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THE AMERICAN FARMER'S 

HORSE BOOK; 

Embracing, in addition to the subjects usually treated of in 
similar works; A Full Description of the Causes and 
Nature of Several Diseases Peculiar to the Ameri- 
can Horse; together with Original, Simple and 
Effective Modes of Treatment, Including 
those of some Diseases heretofore considered incurable; 
and also, An Extended Treatise on Stock Raising and 
Stock Management. The whole Especially 
Adapted to the Use of the Farmer. 




By ROBERT STEWART, M. D., V. S. 

embodying 

The Results of Twenty Years Original investigation 
and Veterinary Practice. 



i^V 



of ^Ofl; 



v 



«? 



^SS7 



CINCINNATI: 
C. F. Vent & Co. ' ^^V/asV^'.<^J 

CHICAGO: J. S. GOODMAN & CO. 

PHILADELPHIA & ST. LOUIS: ZEIGLER, McCURDY & CO. 

NEW YORK: E. P. STARR. 

ROCHESTER: R. H. CURRAN. 

RICHMOND & ATLANTA: NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. 

1867. 



>r<^* 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 
C. F. VENT & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of Ohio. 



r ^X 



.^\ 



^jb^ 



RTEEEOTTPED AT THE 

FBANKLIN TTPE FOUNDSr, 

CINCINNATI. 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



As this work goes to press, the author is confined to his 
bed with a painful and protracted sickness, rendering him 
unable to write a preface. Were he able to do so, however, 
he would not be called upon to make an apology for the 
issue of such a work. It needs no apology. It meets our 
most sanguine expectations, and we feel sure it will receive 
the warm approbation and cordial support of those interested 
in the horse and mule. 

The work had a natural origin, and a slow, healthy growth 
and development, arriving at full maturity before being sent 
forth to the world. The author commenced the study of the 
subject some twenty years ago, for the jjurpose of discover- 
ing rational modes of treatment for Fistula and Big Head, 
which were making fearful ravages among his own stock, 
the only modes of treatment known being the barbarous and, 
to a great extent, ineffectual ones, still in general practice in 
many localities in the Valley of the Mississippi. At the 
time, he had no idea of pursuing the subject further, but the 
complete success that crowned his efi:brts in the treatment 
of his own stock and that of his neighbors, who pressed him 
into the service, created a thirst for a general and minute 
knowledge of all the diseases the horse is heir to, and led 
him to abandon all other pursuits, and give himself up to 
study and original investigation, which led to a very wide 
and highly successful veterinary practice, completely demol- 
ishing many old theories, and superseding the harsh, cruel, 
and inhuman modes of treatment generally practiced, by 
those more effectual, cheaper, simpler, and in every way 

(iii) 



IV PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 

better. His practice was chiefly in the great stock-raising 
regions of Tennessee and Mississippi, but extended all the 
way from the Ohio to the Rio Grande. 

This book is the result, and we put it forth in the full 
confidence that it will more fully meet the wants of American 
horse-owners and managers than any other, or all other, 
works extant. It is distinctively Am.encan, treating more 
fully and explicitly of the diseases peculiar to the American 
horse — more especially those peculiar to the Valley of the 
Mississippi — than any other work hitherto published. It is 
written in plain, simple language, that any one can under- 
stand with the aid of the Glossary of Technical and Scien- 
tific Terms, and will be found peculiarly adapted to the use 
of the farmer. We send it forth on its merits, and have no 
fears but what it will stand there. 

Those who may use it will confer a favor by communi- 
cating to us, by letter, the results of their experience. We 
shall thereby be enabled to detect and correct any errors 
that may have crept in, or that may occur on the part of 
those using the book. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 

Cincinnati, January 1, 1867. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

BRIEF HISTOEY OF THE HORSE.— General Principles kept in 
viFW IN THIS Work — Remarks on Crossing, etc. — Important Facts to 

BB remembered IN TREATING DISEASES OP THE HoRSE 11 

CHAPTER II. 

OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE.— Muscles, Ten- 
dons, AND Membranes — The Skin — The Hair — The Feet- The Blood- 
vessels — The Heart — The Pores — The Brain and Nervous System — 
Respiratory Organs — The Stomach and Intestinal Organs — The 
Liver — The Pancreas — The Spleen — The Urinary Organs 23 

CHAPTER III. 

DISEASES OF THE BONES.— Big Head and Big Jaw, or Exostosis of 
the Bones — Swinny, or Inflammation of the Shoulder — Big Shoul- 
der — Inflammation or Swinny of the Hip — Slipped or Broken Hip — 
Bone Spavin — Illustrative Cases — Cautions — Enlarged Hock — 
Broken Hock — Ring-bone — Stifle — Splint — Broken Knees — Stum- 
bling — Sway-back 69 

CHAPTER IV. 

DISEASES OF THE FEET.— Ulceration of the Foot, or Navicular 
Disease — Cracked Hoofs — Hoof-rot — Corns — Contraction of the Hoop, 
or Narrow Heel — Injuries to the Frog — Inflammation of the Feet, 
or Founder 100 

CHAPTER V. 

DISEASES OF THE GLANDS AND NASAL MEMBRANES.— Blind 
Staggers — Glanders — Farcy — Distemper — Nasal Gleet 118 

CHAPTER VI. 

DISEASES OF THE EYE.— Naturally Weak Eyes— Sore Eyelids- 
Moon Eyes — Cataract — Glass Eyes — Inflammation of the Haw, or 
Hooks — Dimness op Vision — How to detect a bad Eye 164 



Vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS.— Fistula— Poll 
Evil — Blood and Bog Spavin — Wind Galls — Curb — Thorough-pin — 
Tetanus, or Lockjaw — Cramps — Rheumatism — Spasms — String Halt, 
OR Spring Halt 184 

CHAPTER VIII. 

DISEASES OPTHE SKIN AND EARS— Scratches— Thrush— Cracked 
Heels, or Greese — Swelled Legs — Swelled Ankles — Surfeit — 
Mange — Hidebound — Stiff Complaint — Warts — Sore Nose — Saddle 
Galls — Injuries of the Ear — Sore Ears — Vermin 216 

CHAPTER IX. 

DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM.— Water on 
the Bra •; — Apoplexy — Rabies (Hydrophobia, or Madness) — Fits, or 
Epilepsy — Palsy — Insanity 246 

CHAPTER X. 

DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH.— Teething, or Denti- 
tion — Shedding — Blind Teeth — Decay of the Teeth — Scurvy of the 
Teeth — Stump-sucking, Crib-biting, and Wind-sucking — Lampas... 260 

CHAPTER XI. 

DISEASES OF THE THROAT.— Colds— Enlarged Glands— Swelled 
Throat — Cough — Malignant Epidemic — Difficulty of Breathing — 
Broken Wind, Bellows, and Heaves — Thick Wind, Wheezing, etc. — 
Roaring 277 

CHAPTER XII. 

DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS.— Chest Founder— Bron- 
chitis — Pneumonia, or Inflammation op the Lungs — Consumption — 
Pleurisy 295 

CHAPTER XIII. 

DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS.— Sour Stomach- 
Colic in the Stomach — The Bot — Inflammation of the Bowels — En- 
teritis — Flatulent Colic — Inflammation and Rupture of the Colon — 
Inflammation and Bleeding of the Rectum— Soreness and Itching op 
the Anus 307 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER XIV. 

DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC.— Jaundice, 
tR Yellows — Enlargement of the Spleen — Inflammation of the 
EiDNEYS, or Nephritis — Profuse Stalling, or Diabetes — Bloody 

UlINE, OR HiEMATURIA — ThICK AND ALBUMINOUS UrINE — WhITE OR 

List Urine — Gravel, or Stone in the Bladder — Suppression of 
Urke — Inflammation of the Bladder — Foul Sheath — Colt Founder — 
BisBisES op Young Colts 328 

CHAPTER XV. 

DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC.— Thumps— Scrofula- 
Fever, ■)R Inflammation of the Blood — Thick Blood — Thin Blood — 
Bleedinv — The Pulse — The Modes of giving Medicine — Drenching — 
The Pill— In the Feed — The Clyster 353 

CHAPTER XVI. 

POISONS, P<\ISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC.— Internal 
Poisons — Po^ons of the Skin — Animal Poisons 383 

\ CHAPTER XVII. 

FOOD AND GINERAL TREATMENT.— Pasturing-Grasses — Hay 
AND Fodder — Grain — Green Feed for Winter — General Stable 
Management — I^ght — Ventilation and Temperature — Flooring — 
Bedding — CleansVq and Currying — Changes of Weather and Tem- 
perature — Blanketing — Disinfectants — Exercise 401 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

BREEDING, STOCK-UlSING, ETC.— The Hokse and his Qualities— 
The Mare; her Qualties and Treatment — The Colt and his Treat- 
ment — Crossing — Cas^.ating — The Mule— Stock Farms 435 

CHAPTER XIX. 

MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES.— The Teeth— The Lips— The Hair — 
The Chin — The Eyes — '!he Abuses of the Horse — Over-working — 
Whipping and Beating — (utting and Slitting the Ears — Nicking and 
Docking — Racing , 468 

CIAPTER XX. 

GENTLING, BREAKING, A^D TRAINING.— The Young Colt— The 
One Year old Colt — The <bLT at Two Years old — Breaking — The 
Rarey Method — Saddle Hores — Horses for the Buggy and Carriage 
— Draught Horses — Roadster — Mule Breaking, Training, etc.... 496 



"Vm TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXL 

FEACTUEES. — Fractures of the Skull — Fractures of the Nasal 
Bones — Fracture of the Eibs — Simple Fracture of the Limbs — Framj — 
Pen — Setting the Bones — Treatment of the Wounds — The timi to 
heal 525 

CHAPTER XXII. 

SHOEING. — The putting on the Shoe — Calking — Clips — The .Binder 
Shoe — Different kinds of Shoes — Paring the Hoofs — CnANrtNG the 
Shoes — The time of wearing 534 

CHAPTER XXIIl. 

VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HOESE.— I. Vices : Kicking— 
Biting — Eearing — Scaring. ..Eunning away — Balking ani Backing — 
Chewing the reins — Pulling at the halter and BREifiiNG away — 
Overreaching and Interfering — Stumbling — II. Unsouni>'ess : Defects 
OF the Eye — Defects of the Feet — Defects of the Skn — Defects op 
THE Eespiratory Organs — Defects of the Stomach anj Bowels — The 
Urinary Organs — Conclusion 551 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

MEDICAL PEEPAEATIONS EECOMMENDED IN ^HIS WOEK,. 562 

GLOSSAEY OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICALTEEMS USED IN 
THIS WOEK 573 

GENEEAL INDEX 581 

TABLE OF SYMPTOMS TO FACILITATE THE DETECTION OF 
DISEASE 591 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER I. 

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES KEPT IN VIEW IN THIS WORK — REMARKS ON 

CROSSING, ETC. 

The horse is a native of several districts of Asia and 
Africa ; and in the Southern parts of Siberia large herds of 
these animals are occasionally seen. In Ukraine, where wild 
horses are often found, they are rendered no otherwise serv- 
iceable to man than as food. The wild horses on each side of 
the Don are the offspring of the Russian liorses that were 
employed in the siege of Asoph, in the year 1697, when, for 
want of forage, they were turned loose. They have relapsed 
into a state of nature, and have become as shy and timid as 
the original savage breed. The Cossacks chase them, but 
always in the winter, by driving them into the valleys filled 
with snow, into which they plunge, and are caught. Their 
excessive swiftness is such as to entirely exclude every other 
mode of capture. 

The horses of South America are of Spanish origin, and 
entirely of the Andalusian breed. They are now become so 
numerous as to live in herds, some of which are said to con- 
sist of ten thousand. 

The horse, in a domesticated state, is found in almost every 
part of the globe, except, perhaps, within the Arctic Circle ; 
and his reduction and conquest is generally considered as the 
greatest acquisition from tlie animal world that the art and 

11 



12 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



industry of man have ever made. In our opinion, however, 
the sheep should be ranked first in usefulness, the kine sec- 
ond, and the horse third. 

Of the six ascertained species of horses, only one has yet 
been discovered on the New Continent in a perfectly wild 
state, and this animal has cloven hoofs. It is an inhabitant 
of the mountains of South America. 

The horse is a type of man — of man's pride, vices, and in- 
firmities, no less than of his independence and strength. His 
martial traits, especially, have been the then^.e of glowing de- 
scription and eulogy in all ages. The unthinking horse that 
rushes to battle is but the truthful representation of his 
great prototype — man. The description of the Eastern horse 
in the book of Job is exceedingly poetical and expressive : 




" Hast thou given the horse his strength ? Plast thou clothed 
his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a 
grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paw- 
eth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength ; he goeth on 
to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not 
afti'ighted ; neither turneth he back from the sword. The 
quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and tlie 
shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; 
neither bclieveth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He 



BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



13 



saith among the trumpets, Ha! ha ! and he smelleth the bat- 
tle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting." 

The exultant song of Miriam, after the passage of the 
children of Israel through the Red Sea, is the second place 
in the Bible where reference is made to the horse. In her 
impassioned recital of the glorious triumphs whereby the 
Lord had wrought such deliverance for his people, not the 
least was that " the horse and his rider hath He thrown into 
the sea." 




DARLEY ARABIAN. 



The horse is nearly always associated in Holy Writ wita 
man, as possessed with the spirit of war, and of great fond- 
ness for its conflict and carnage. He, like man, requires, and 
is capable of, great cultivation and discipline for the murder- 
ous and guilty pursuit. Associated with man in his sins, he 
has been cursed, like him, with his diseases — the sure and 
certain consequences of sin. It may be said of both his phys- 



14 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

ical structure and his disorders that they place him nearer 
man than do those of any of the other beasts of the field. 

The history of the horse affords us no evidence that there 
has been any improvement in the race since Pharaoh and his 
hosts of horsemen and chariots were overthrown in the Red 
Sea, The Arabs have always liad the finest horses in the 
world, and their great attection for them has been most re- 
markable. Among no people has the art of breeding and 
training the horse been carried to such perfection as among 
the wandering tribes of the desert ; and nowhere else has 
there been such freedom from disease, unless it be among the 
ponies of the Western Indians. It does not, then, require in- 
telligence nor cultivation to have good horses, or even the 
best. And whether the horse has advanced in improvement 
since the earlier ages, he certainly has become much more 
subject to disease, and much more so in those countries 
Avhere the greatest efforts have been made for the improve- 
ment of fine breeds. Among the horses of England and 
France there is three times as much disease as in America, 
and ten times more in the older States than among the wild 
horses of the plains of Texas, or the Indian ponies. Both 
disease and degeneracy have kept pace with the efi:brts of 
stable breeding and management? 

But few persons are aware that 
on these plains are to be found 
some of the finest horses in the 
world — in size and form and mo- 
tion — some of them of the most 
perfect symmetry and models of 
beauty, and possessing all the va- 
ried movements of gracefulness and 
agility characterizing the horse 
trained under the most careful 
supervision, and often in a much 
more perfect degree. 
Said an old Texan ranger to the author, as they were 
riding together across the great prairies, " Have y "»u heard 




BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 16 

the story of that wild pacing mare ? " And he proceeded to 
relate that, on the plains south of San Antonio, there had 
often been seen, in one of the droves of wild horses so com- 
mon there, a beautiful cream-colored mare, that never broke 
her pace, however hard pressed ; and that no horse had ever 
been found of sufEcient bottom to overtake her, although she 
had been often seen, and the trial made. I afterward heard 
others speak of her, and that such was her rapid pacing that 
she could not be caught. 

One striking peculiarity of the wild horse of the plains, 
and one that interests us more in this work than any other, 
is that hinted at above, his almost entire freedom from dis- 
ease. Could we learn the cause of this exemption, we might 
do well to imitate the example of these dumb instructors; and 
nothing in the history of the horse could be of more interest 
or benefit than to learn this fact. We discover two causes 
of disease among the horses of civilized life — the diet, the food 
of the stables, and the abuse he receives from his master — 
man. The wild horses are free from both, and, with the ex- 
ception of death from the borer-fly, or from accident, they 
nearly all die with old age; and some of them live to a great 
age. They take exercise as iTature requires, and are gov- 
erned by its instincts. Their food is the wild grass of the 
prairies, and their drink is from the clear water brook. 
They visit often the salt licks, with which the country every- 
where abounds ; and their simple life is one of almost entire 
freedom from disease, and in which their natural capacities 
are developed in their greatest perfection and strength. We 
could recommend no better veterinary course of study than 
a trip to the plains, and an acquaintance with the manners 
and habits of the wild horse, and their beautiful symmetry of 
form and movements, the last of which has been compared by 
one,* who has given a description of them, to excel the best- 
trained cavalry in the world. The student would come back 
with his mind thoroughly disgusted with the vile practices 

♦Washington Irving. 



16 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

of the stables and the farms — the homes of the horse among 
civilized man. 

In England, for the last two or three centuries, the rich 
and noble have been engaged in improving the breeds of 
horses, and bringing out all their fine qualities; and during 
all this time he has improved backward — has actually de- 
generated — gone back a hundred years; and, with the ex- 
ception of a few, gathered from all parts of the laud in the 
stables of rich and noble gentlemen, he is not to day what 
he was in the days of Charles I. and Oliver Cromwell. And 
if we are to take the statements of the most learned and re- 
liable English authors upon the horse, there has been a very 
great falling ofi' in the last fifty years, more than at any 
former period. We refer to the statements of Mr. Castley, 
and of Youatt in his work on the horse, pp. 248-9, This is 
the condition of the farmer's horse : A very few fine horses 
are to be found among the rich, who gather them up from 
all parts of the land ; and the number of these have become 
so few, and are held at such enormous prices, that the farmers 
eun not procure them at all. And many a rich gentleman in 
England may be seen riding a horse now not so good as the 
common farmer rode to his fair fifty or a hundred years ago. 
It used to be common for the old English farmer to ride his 
fine blooded horse to the fair, but that day has passed. All 
such have been appropriated by the rich and great, and so 
poorly has the supply kept pace with the demand, that there 
is not near enough to meet it, and the disparity is becoming 
greater every year. 

This is the case, also, in Spain. In the days of Spanish 
chivalry, the Andalusian horse was the finest and noblest the 
world has ever seen, and the crusader was mounted upon the 
noblest steed that over trod the soil. But what are the Au- 
dalusians now? Mere ponies. Their former greatness is gone. 
They possess no points of resemblance of former days. They 
were collected from their native hills and valleys to the 
haunts and service of civilized man, and they have sunk into 
obscurity and almost extinction from the earth. 



BEIEF HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 17 

Sucli ever has been, and such ever will be, the history of 
the domesticated horse. Xew races are produced by breed- 
ing and mixing the different races, yet not more than one 
out of five will be an improvement of a medium of the two, 
and the others will fall far below it, and, in combination of 
bloods, the days will l)e shortened and the infirmities in- 
creased. 

In our own country the same law governs, and may be 
seen to a large extent. But his treatment is so much better, 
and on our farms he is so much nearer his natural condition, 
that the same evil results are not seen. Yet the horse of the 
present will not compare with those of the days of the Revo- 
lution. The history of the late terrible war proves this but 
too plainly. The qualities of the cavalry horse of the present, 
and his powers of endurance, in comparison with those of 
McDonald and Marion, are largely in favor of the revolu- 
tionary times. We have many fine horses in our country, 
and many of these are among the farmers, but is the general 
character of the horse what it was in former times ? It cer- 
tainly is not. Many of the horses are larger now, but they 
are generally coarser, more flabby and loosely made, and do 
not possess the compactness of form or the powers of endur- 
ance of the horse of the last century, and, from some 
source, a fountain of disease has s[)rung that is deluging our 
land with its dreadful virus, and disease and degeneracy are 
terribly on the increase. From whence does this all come, 
and what has caused it? are questions that interest the his* 
torian of the horse, and should be made a part of his record, 
as it properly belongs to his department. 

AVe introduce a short account of a very remarkable race 
of horses, as given by Mr. J. S. Skinner, formerly Assistant 
Postmaster at Washington City. They are " very small, 
compact, hardy horses, called beach horses, on the islands 
along the seaboard of Maryland and Virginia. They run 
wild throughout the year, and are never fed. When the 
snow sometimes covers the ground for a few days in winter, 
they dig through it in search of food. They are very dimin- 



18 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

utive, but many of fhem are of perfect symmetry and extra 
ordinary powers of action and endurance." One served as a 
pony for the boys of a family of Accomac for several genera- 
tions; another could trot his fifteen miles in the hour; still 
another that it was believed could trot his thirty miles in two 
hours." 

This account has been introduced to prove still more clearly 
what has been already stated in connection with the wild 
horse of the plains, that man has never accomplished, with 
all his plans and schemes of improvement of Nature's work, 
what Nature is constantly doing in the same department, 
unassisted by him. 

Man has been trying, in all ages of the world, to do Nature's 
work; has interfered with her laws, and tried to control her 
action. And Nature has been, when obstructed, silently at 
work, far outstripping him, and showing a perfection of 
beauty, of symmetry, and power that puts to shame and re- 
bukes the madness of the prophet, and exhibits so clearly 
the weakness of man and his folly. 

Whenever man undertakes to do the work of the Creator, 
he mars its beauty and excellency, and introduces discord and 
death as the result of his patch-work. 

The beach horse is the Canadian pony breed, originally 
from the south of France, and is of the same race as the In- 
dian pony. The wild horse of the plains is of the old Spanish 
stock and the pure Andalusian, propagated and improved b}' 
Nature's in-and-in during hundreds of years. The fine bloods 
of England and America are crosses of the Arabian with 
several others, and none of them come near equaling the 
original. Many an Arab of the desert can sell his mare or 
horse for two and three thousand dollars, and a stallion from 
the cavalcade of one of the more powerful Sheiks will bring 
almost fabulous prices. 

A fine Andalusian may be met with occasionally in this 
beautiful valley in Spain, but Spanish in-and-in crossing of 
a former age has nearly destroyed the race. The pure races 
far exceed in longevity any of the mixed breeds. The pony 



BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 19 

will last three times the life of the American horse. The 
wild rover of the plains lives to twice his age. The Arabian 
often lives to thirty and even fifty years, with his vigor but 
little impaired. The Indian pony has been known to live 
fifty and sixty years. The American or English horse will 
not average fifteen. 

The history of in-and-in breeding, and the crossing of dif- 
ferent races, is the history- of disease and deterioration. The 
evils arising from these practices are untold and unimaginable. 
It was never designed to be so. While there is no law of in- 
cest in the brute creation, it is unquestionable that great evils 
result both from mingling the blood of members of the same 
family, and, also, that of the separate and distinct races, the 
same as in the human family. The pure races have ever been 
superior to the mixed. There is an awful curse resting upon 
the amalgamation of the races in the human family, aud it ap- 
plies to man in liis mismanagement of the brute creation. It is 
assigned in the Bible, by Ezra, the prophet, as the cause of the 
banishment and captivity of the Jews, " and as a great tres- 
pass in the sight of the Lord," and one that must be put 
away to bring again the favor of the Lord. And he says, 
" When I heard this thing, (the mixing of the holy race 
with other races,) I rent my garments and my mantle, and 
plucked oif the hair of my head aud of my beard, and sat 
down astonished." And so will every intelligent physiologist 
sit down astonished at the foll}^ and ignorance, and, more so, 
of the great wickedness of those who would thus subvert 
iSTature's laws and destroy the great ground-plan of creation 
and Providence by an intermingling of the different races in 
either man or beast. God, in his wisdom and goodness, after 
an experiment and a failure of one race upon the earth, sent 
them out again, difterent races of all animate creation, to 
fill the earth, and yet to be kept entirely separate from each 
other, and giving to each a law of instinct or reason to govern 
them in their habits and propensities ; and when these laws 
are obeyed, blessing and prosperity attends; but when dis- 
regarded, the consequence is a blighting curse. Our object 



20 A.MERICAX FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

should be to study this great law of our physical being, and 
also in the brute creation, and to labor for the improvement 
of the diiferent races, not the formation of new ones. Such 
will be our purpose in the future pages of this work. 

It is not our design to enlarge upon these topics in this 
very brief outline of history, but in their appropriate chap- 
ters they will be more fully presented. It is with the horse 
as we find him in America that we have to do in this work. 
^ot the general history of his races, pedigrees, and perform- 
ances, but the history of his diseases, their causes and cures, 
and rational and generous rules for his treatment and gen- 
eral improvement. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES JCEPT IN VIEW IN THIS WORK. 

Certain leading principles, already indicated in this chap- 
ter, have been constantly kept in view in the preparation of 
this work. An epitome of these will probably prove of ma- 
terial assistance to many readers, and, as it will occupy but 
little space, is here introduced : 

1. The horse is naturally a wild animal, his condition of 
domestication being really one of slavery. 

2. His wild or native state is that in which he is the most 
fi'ee and happy, and that in which he lives the longest and 
attains the most perfect development of his natural powers. 

3. Like the human family, the species was originally di- 
vided into distinct races, which races Providence designed 
should be kept separate forever. 

4. In their wild state, the different races, dispersing in 
droves, do not mingle together, and if they were left to follow 
the instincts of nature, intermixture would never occur. 

5. The horse is not naturally a diseased animal. He is 
subject to extremely few hereditary disorders, or, perhaps, to 
none; but indiscriminate commingling of blood has fearfully 
multiplied the diseases to which he is subject, and occasioned 
deplorable degeneracy. 

6. Improper treatment and abuse at the hands of man 



BRIEF HISTtRY OF THE HORSE. 21 

have been the causes of nearly all his diseases, and of his 
great decay as regards longevity and natural capabilities. 

7. The horse is improved and becomes more efficient as 
his circumstances "are brought nearer his condition by nature, 
and as his wants are better understood and supplied. 

IMPORTANT FACTS TO BE REMEMBERED IN TREATING DISEASES OF 

THE HORSE. 

1. The horse is more like man, as regards general structure 
and the pathology of his diseases, than any other animal. 

2. As a ru^e, though not without some exceptions, the 
causes of disease in man operate similarly upon the horse, 
and the same remedies are equally efficacious for both. 

3. Disease is either general or local in its character : local 
when only some particular organ or part is affected; general 
when the whole system is involved. 

4. Nearly all disorders of both man and beast, whatever 
may have been the primary or external causes, proceed from 
obstruction and derangement of the circulation and secretive 
functions. Therefore, to keep in health, prevent these ob- 
structions; to restore to health, remove them. 

5. Although disease does not originate in the blood, this 
is the medium by which it is transmitted throughout the 
general system. 

6. One of the functions of the nervous system is to assist 
in propelling the blood through the veins and arteries. Hence, 
any derangement of the nerves affects the circulation, and 
vice versa. 

7. The size of the horse is ten times that of man. His or- 
ganism is coarser, and the vessels of his system are larger in 
proportion. "When medicines are administered, they must be 
of corresponding strength. 

8. Compared with man, the horse breathes only half as fast. 
The same is true in respect to the rate at which his pulse 
beats and his blood flows. 

9. Disease usually develops itself, and likewise abates, much 
more slowly in the horse than in man. 



22 AMERICAN FARMER'S HOIHE BOOK. 

10. All medicines are not uniform in tbeir action upon dif- 
ferent animals. Some substances which are poisonous to mac 
are quite harmless to the horse. The reverse is also true. 

11. The fewer the medicines given the horse, provided the 
cure is eflected, the better. Thousands of valuable animals 
are killed yearly by excessive drenching. 

12. Nature can not be forced, but may be assisted and re- 
lieved; and to accomplish this there must be an adaptation 
of the treatment to the nature of the disease. 

13. As no effect can exist without adequate cause, when- 
ever disease is detected, we may be sure that its sources are 
not far remote. Whatever these may be, no time should be 
lost in tracing them out, and in removing them, if it is possi- 
ble to do so. 

14. Great as is the disadvantage under which the veteri- 
nary practitioner labors, from the fact that the sufferer can 
not speak, it is compensated in great degree by the expressive 
actions of the animal ; and treatment of the horse may always 
be undertaken with greater hope and confidence than that 
of the human patient, because it may be male, with perfect 
safety, much more vigorous and decided. 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 23 



CHAPTER II. 

OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 

In discussing this subject, we propose to depart from tlio 
method usually followed by anatomists in their divisions, 
classes, and descriptions, and to present the whole subject 
briefly in one distinct, connected chapter, and in its natural, 
consecutive order. The classification of the horse among 
other animals in natural history, and his relations to them, 
are matters of no practical moment to the farmer and stock 
dealer. To them the subjects of chief importance are the 
horse's own peculiar history; his adaptation to the service of 
man, and the best modes of training him and fitting him for 
that purpose ; the general laws of health, and the means of 
its preservation ; and the diseases to which he is subject, with 
their proper treatment, and means for their prevention as 
well as cure. It will be sufiicient, in a work like this, to 
communicate a general knowledge of his structure, so that, 
in the treatment of disease, the part afiected may be readily 
known, and the remedy intelligently applied. 

Our plan of discussion will be similar to that of the car- 
penter in building a house, which concerns, first, the frame- 
work; next, the braces and pins that hold it together; then 
the covering, and, lastly, the inside finish. In the same man- 
ner, we will consider, first, the bones, which constitute the 
frame-work of the horse ; next, the muscles and tendons — 
the braces which fasten the former together ; then the skin 
and hair, the horse's covering; and, lastly, the internal finish — 
the entire vascular arrangement of lungs, heart, intestines, 
urinary organs, blood-vessels, capillaries, and pores, with the 
whole glandular and nervous structure. 

Our limits allow, and our purpose requires, but a short 



24 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 




,- ei ri ^-o«rt.-«; oTs --2"3 s s S Ji 2 S"S S S S Sf S S S S S K S S S 5 *' S 5 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 25 

space for the discussion of each of these divisions. We ^egin 
witli the general frame-work. In this division, although a 
minute description of each part is foreign to our purpose, we 
l)resent the engraving of a very perfect skeleton, accurately 
indexed for reference or investigation. 

The skeleton is composed of two hundred and forty-seven 
separate bones, which are united by joints to form the spine, 
tnorax, pelvis, tail, and fore and hind extremities. The spine 
is finished anteriorly by the head, which is divided into the 
cranium, or skull, and face, and contains the teeth. Sus- 
pended from the head is the os hyoides (bone of the tongue), 
which completes the number of bones ; thus : 

The Spixe consists of 7 cervical, 18 dorsal, and 6 lumbar vertebrae. 

Total 31 

The Thorax is made up of the dorsal vertebrae, with 18 ribs on each 

side, and the sternum in the middle. Total 37 

The Pelvis comprises 2 ossa innominata (or illium, ischium, and 

pubes), and 1 sacrum. Total 3 

The Tail contains, on the average, 17 bones. Total 17 

The Fore Extremity is made up on each side of the scapula, humerus, 
OS brachii, and 8 carpal bones; 3 metacarpal, os sufiraginis, os cor- 
onte, OS pedis, os naviculare, 2 ossa sessamoidea. Total on both sides 40 
The Hind Extremity has the femur, patella, tibia, fibula, 6 tarsal 
bones, 3 metatarsals, os sufFraginis, os coronas, os pedis, os navicu- 
lare, 2 ossa sessamoidea. Total 38 

Bones of the Cranium 10 

Bones of the Face and Lower Jaws 18 

Teeth 40 

Bones of the internal Ear, four in each organ 8 

Os Hyoides, or Bone of the Tongue, made up of five sections 5 

Grand total 247 

The hoofs are the mud-sills of the frame-work, each hold- 
ing — coffin-like — within its cavity the coffin-bone (os pedis), 
which is the first bone in the leg. Next above this is the 
lower pastern-bone, in front resting upon the coffin-bone 
firmly and closely, but with an opening at the back, which 
admits a small bone, of a peculiar shape, called the navicu- 
lar — literall}^, ship-shaped — or shuttle-bone (os naviculare). 



26 



AMERICAN FARMERS HORSE BOOK. 



This extends backward, and forms the projection of the heel. 
!N^ext in order is the upper pastern-bone, upon which rests 
the shank-bone, with the sessamoid bone, which articulates 
with the ankle-joint, and laps over the point of junction of 
the shank and upper pastern-bone. The knee-joint is com- 
posed of seven bones. Sometimes a small, floating bone is 
found at the back of the joint, making eight in all. Back 
of the knee, and just below it, is a small, thin bone, extend- 
ing down the front shank nearly its entire length, and de- 
nominated the splint-bone of the fore-leg. Above the knee 
is the main bone of the leg (the radius), known among horse- 
men as the arm. It is the longest and largest bone of tlie 
fore-leg. Above the ai'in is a bone of peculiar shape, named 
the ulna (elbow). Still higher up is the humerus, the upper 
bone of the arm, sometimes rather vaguely termed the shoul- 
der-bone. This completes the bones of the fore-leg. 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 




Fig. 1. 
a The upper pastern. 
b The lower pastern, 
c The navicuhtr bone. 
d The coffin-bone. 

Fig. 2. 
a The sessatnoi.l bone. 
h The upper pastern. 
c The lower pastern. 
d The navicular bone, 
c The coffin-bone, with the horny lamince. 



In the hind leg, the bones are precisely similar, until we 
reach the hock-joint, which is composed of siix bones. The 
shank of the hind leg has two splint-bones, while the fore- 
leg has but one. The point or projection of the hock is 
called the os calcis, or heel-bone. Above this is the tibia, 
(flute, or pipe-bone,) the largest bone of the whole structure. 
Behind this, and fitting closely to it, is a small bone called 



OUT-LINE OF THE STKUCTUKE OF THE HORSE. 27 

fibula (eip^nifjing a clasp, or buckle). The stifle-joint is formed 
by the tibia and the femur, or thigh-bone, which is next 
above. It is covered in front by the patella, or knee-pan. 
The six bones of the haunches, or hips — three on each side — 
complete the bones of the hind limbs. Upon the four legs, 
which serve as posts, rests the superstructure. 

Next may be mentioned the bones of the head. The most 
noteworthy of these are the superior and inferior maxillaries, 
the upper and Jower jaw-bones. In these are set the teeth : 
24 molars, or grinders — 6 on each side, both above and below ; 
12 incisors, or front teeth — six above and six below; and 4 
canine teeth, or tushes — one on each side, above and below. 

The bones of the skull are thin plates, curved so as to give 
the head its shape, and locked together by saw-like or dove- 
tailed edges, to prevent displacement. The principal ones, 
from their several positions, are respectively called the frontal, 
nasal, and occipital (eye) bone. Underneath the two former 
are innumerable little scales of bone, some of them entirely 
unconnected with tlie others, but most of them united to the 
several bones of the head. These are so arranged as to form 
many irregula'' cavities, technically designated sinuses. 

On tiie top of the head, and at the beginning of the neck, 
is a double and yet united bone on each side — the temporal 
bone — to which the first bone of the neck (the atlas) is at- 
tached by that peculiar ligament, commonly known as the 
whit-leather, which is found nowhere in the whole body ex- 
cept here and at the top of the shoulder. It is in this liga- 
ment that poll-eril and fistula have their origin. 

Here begins the line of the vertebrae forming the spine. 
This consists of thirty-one bones, linked together by lock- 
joints. The seven joints of the neck are called the cervical 
vertebrte, and those of the back proper, the dorsal vertebrae. 
The latter are eighteen in number, each having an upward 
projection, varying in length at diflerent parts of the back. 
At the shoulder this projection is never less than three 
inches, and in some horses is as much as four or five. It 
becomes less toward the middle of the back, at which point 



28 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

it is not more than from an it ch and a half to two inches in 
length. The six lumbar vertebrae, or bones of the loins, comes 
next, and complete the spine proper. The spinal column, 
however, is continued by the sacrum, (literally, the sacred 
bone,) and the bones of the tail, whose number is not uni- 
form in different animals, but averages about seventeen. The 
main bones of the hip unite with the spine and sacrum at 
the termination of the lumbar vertebrae-. 

Many anatomists, among whom is Youatt, adopt a slightly 
different classification in regard to the bones of the spinal 
column. They consider the sacrum to be made up of five 
bones, which are denominated the sacral vertebrae. Some 
writers, also, specify fifteen as the average number of bones 
in the tail. 

Upon each side, at the shoulder, is a bone called the scap- 
ula, the shoulder-blade. This unites, at its lower extremity, 
with the humerus, from its articulation with which it spreads 
out and becomes very thin, with a ridge like the letter "T" 
running through its middle. It extends upward to the back- 
bone, CO which it is united by muscle alone. It is this bone 
which is ihe seat of that dreadful disease swinney, or inflam- 
mation of the shoulder. 

The ribs — eighteen upon each side — are so arranged as to 
give form and strength to the body, and protect the vital 
organs from injury. The sternum, or breast-bone, is com- 
posed of six or seven pieces, and constitutes the floor of the 
chest. It is a long, spongy bone, fixed between the ribs on 
either side, serving as a support for the seven true ribs — the 
forward ones — which closely articulate with it. 

"We have thus given a sketch of the horse's entire frame- 
work, with all the bones that compose it, and the principal 
oflices they perform. The diseases of the bones will be con- 
sidered elsewhere. 

The bones are classified as the solid, the hollow, and the 
spongy. The solid are the thin plate-bones, such as are 
found in the head and the back portions of the jaw, and in 
some parts of the body. The hollow bones are those of the 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 29 

legs, the hips, and parts of the jaws. These are the largest 
and strongest in the body, as they, need to be, in order to 
resist the great strain and pressure to which they are con- 
stantly subject. The spongy bones include the ends or heads 
of all the bones that articulate to form the joints ; the entire 
number of small bones that form the joints; the shoulder- 
blades, the ribs, and the upper and back portions of the 
maxillarios, or jaw-bones. The spongy portions are those in 
which disease and exostosis, or enlargement, nearly always 
make their appearance. 

MUSCLES, TENDONS, AND MEMBRANES. 

The oitire movements of the body and limbs, with a few 
trifling exceptions, are eifected by the agency of that pe- 
culiar substance known in our butchers' shops as flesh, and 
which is recognized by anatomists as muscular tissue. This 
constitutes the chief bulk of the soft parts outside the three 
great cavitieu of the body (the cranial, thoracic, and abdom- 
inal). They possess great power of motion, being composed 
of numberless little strings, or fibers, each of which has a 
contractile and elastic power of itself, the whole being so ar- 
ranged as best to serve the purpose intended. While each 
fiber has an independent elasticity, it acts, at the same time, 
in conjunction with all the others in the muscle of which it 
forms a part, so that their united power becomes very great. 
This may be realized when we consider that it is they which 
give to the horse his immense strength. One very noticeable 
feature in the anatomy of the muscles is the albuminous 
coating which surrounds each fiber, and thus prevents fric- 
tion. It fills the interstices throughout the muscle, all whose 
parts are united and bound together by means of its sticky, 
waxy qualities, with the strength of " a three-fold cord which 
can not be broken." 

Each muscle terminates in a more solid, compact, whitish 
substance, commonly called a cord. Such it really is, acting 
with reference to the joint in the same manner as the cord 
to a pulley. (See description under heading, The Tendons.) 



30 AMEKICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

The muscles possess but a limited degree of sensibility. 
When the flesh is cut by any sharp instrument, comparatively 
little pain is experienced after the skin and membranes are 
passed through. They are but seldom the seat of disease, 
except such as proceeds from external injuries. Sometimes, 
however, dreadful ulcers establish themselves within the 
muscular tissues, which occasion great swelling, and dis- 
charge immense quantities of matter. 

Among horse dealers it is a common remark, in discussing 
the qualities of a particular horse, that " he has muscle." 
This, of course, refers not to the number of the muscles, but 
to their size and power. One horse has as many muscles as 
another. It is only in their quality — in their flexibility and 
elasticity — that an^^ difference can occur. Here, however, it 
is very great; and hence one important reason for the ex- 
tremes which are found in the market value of different ani- 
mals. A horse's power depends much less upon the amount 
of his muscle than upon its quality. The superior strength 
and quickness of some horses are principally owing to their 
muse alar fibers being stronger, more elastic, and possessing 
greater power of contraction than those of others. 

Fattening an animal does not increase his muscles or his 
strength ; nothing but the adipose, or fsitty, matter is in- 
creased. This gives to the parts a full and rounded appear- 
ance, so much admired in the horse, and also covers up many 
serious defects. The accumulation of fat, when excessive, 
becomes a positive obstruction to muscular action. A full, 
rounded form is not an evidence of fine qualities, nor lean- 
ness of a lack of them. The horse which is thin in flesh, but 
in good health and well fed, possesses more muscular power 
and action, and especially greater endurance, than one very 
fat. Besides this, the latter is much more liable to disease. 
While these are facts known to every horseman, it is equally 
true, however, that a certain amount of adipose matter, with 
regular and proper exercise, is essential to the possession of 
tlie highest degree of vital energy and strength. 

The fat of the horse's system has less to do with the raus- 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTUEE OF THE HORSE. 31 

cles than with the skin and hair, whose condition it affects 
materially. Oozing out at the pores, it oils the entire surface 
of the skin — which is thus kept soft and pliant — makes the 
hair smooth and gloss}^ and thus imparts to the horse one 
of his chief beauties. This is l^ature's own mode of adorn- 
ment. 

There is another agent which has a more important influ- 
ence upon both the action and the power of the muscles. 
This is the albumen already referred to. Upon its quality 
and consistence depends, in great degree, the horse's strength. 
In it lies imbedded the iibrine of the muscles, which it sur- 
rounds on every side, and holds in one compact mass. It is 
the waxy substance found in green meat, making it stick to 
the hands, sometimes with considerable force. Its quantity 
and quality are dependent upon the vital energies, and will 
be increased or diminished, in both these respects, as the 
vital forces become impaired, or are improved. On the other 
hand, its condition has an important reflex influence upon 
the vital forces. 

When the horse is thin in flesh from bad health, or an in- 
sufficiency of food, the character of the albumen is materially 
changed. Not only does it become much less in quantity, 
but also more sticky and thick. The tibers sink down, one 
upon another, and adhere to each other to such an extent as 
greatly to obstruct their action. The diflference between 
their freedom of movement when in a healthy condition, and 
their retarded action when the animal's vital energies have 
been seriously impaired, is about the same as one would 
experience in drawing a thousand separate strings, yet all 
together, first through oil and next through tar. It requires 
a labored eftbrt for the feeble or half-starved horse to move 
the tens of thousands of muscular fibers in his body through 
the thick, wax-like consistence which characterizes this al- 
buminous matter when he is in such a condition. 

The color of the albumen is another important item in this 
description. The fibrine is' white, and the red tint of the flesh 
is due entirely to the presence of the coloring matter con- 



82 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

tained in the albumen. "When the horse or the beef is in 
sound health and fine plight generally, the color of the flesh 
is a light red, bordering on yellow. This appearance is in 
consequence of the albumen being largel}' diluted with water, 
so largely, indeed, that it is now of about the consistency of 
cream. But let the same animal be much reduced by disease 
or hunger, and his flesh will become dark red in color, verg- 
ing on brown, and the albumen thick and sticky, like tar. 
A very fat horse has ten times as much albumen as a very 
poor one. 

If any one wishes to test the difiierence which these two 
conditions present, let him hold in one hand a piece of lean 
meat from a very fat beef, and in the other a piece from a 
very poor one. lie will readily perceive all that we wish to 
illustrate. The soldiers often speak of blue beef and sticky 
beef, declaring that if a piece of their poor, army meat be 
thrown against the side of a house it will stick there. This 
shows the efl'ects of extreme poverty upon the albumen of 
the flesh. Disease produces similar results. The flesh of 
cattle, it may be interesting to know, does not possess so 
much of this element as that of horses, but generally much 
more of the adipose, or fatt}^ matter. 

It is the accumulation of albumen that gives the full, 
rounded muscle, and its thin, mucous consistency is the index 
of health and good condition. It loosens and lubricates the 
fibers of the muscles, renders them elastic and flexible, and 
gives power and tone to their action. It also afibrds nutri- 
tion to the fibrine, and supports its growth. The fact that 
muscle is composed of these two elements — fibrine and albu- 
men — is an important hint to the farmer in regard to the 
diet best adapted to keep up or increase the strength of his 
team. Such articles as contain these substances in greatest | 
proportion, and in such condition as to be most readily as- ' 
similated in the formation of muscle, are those with which he 
should feed his horses. The subject of diet will be discussed 
in a future chapter. 



OUTLINE OF THE STEUCTUEE OF THE HOESE 33 

THE TENDONS. 

Of these there are a great man}^, but the limits of our work 
will not permit us, any more than in the case of the muscles, 
even to classify them, nor to make any further mention of 
them than simply as they come within the scope of our pur- 
pose — the history and treatment of the diseases of the horse. 
All of the muscles end in tendons, and by these are attached, 
by means of cartilages, to the bones at the joints. To bor- 
row a figure from mechanics, the bones may be considered 
the pulleys, the tendons the ropes, and the muscles the power 
pulling at the end of the ropes. Though, in general, non- 
elastic, the tendons possess great hardness and toughness, 
and serve an important purpose in the animal economy. 
Every joint, of course, is provided with them, since it is only 
by their assistance that motion is obtained at all. They are 
liable to diseases of various kinds, and are the seat of that 
dreadful complaint, rheumatism. 

It is in two important tendons of the horse's system that 
fistula and poll evil, those terrible enemies of the equine 
race, always intrench themselves. The description of one 
of these tendons will be that of both, since they dififer only 
as regards location. The large one is situated at the top 
of the shoulder. It is composed of fibers of a remarkable 
texture and peculiar whiteness, possessing, in addition to the 
great strength belonging to the tendons in general, a sur- 
prising degree of elasticity. It is the serratus major of anat- 
omists, (literally, great saw-shaped,) but is popularly known 
as the white-leather or w^hit-leather. Extending underneath 
the top of the shoulder-blade for a considerable distance, it 
appears to serve the purpose of a pad for the blade to press 
against, by which means the ribs are protected from injury. 
It is attached to the chest in front, and to the smooth, in- 
ternal surface of the blade, and, being strengthened by the 
muscles, it is of the utmost service in supporting the weight 
of the body and sustaining the severe shocks of the most 
daring leap and the most rapid motion. From the upper 



o-t AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

extremity of the blade it extends across the top of the hack, 
where it rests upou the point of the vertehrfe, and unites 
with the corresponding tendon upon the opposite side. Thus 
it hangs across the hack like the pads of a saddle. 

Fistula, which will be described at length in Chapter YII, 
is a swelling and ulceration of the serratus major, consequent 
upon some external injury. Poll evil is a similar affection 
of the smaller of these two singular tendons — or muscles, as 
they are sometimes called — the serratus minor, situated at 
the top of the head, with which it connects the bones of the 
neck. 

THE MEMBRANES. 

These form the thin, smooth coating that extends over all 
the bones, separating them from the muscles, and that in- 
closes the brain, lines all the cavities of the body, and covers 
the bowels, kidneys, hearts, lungs, and the other organs of 
similar location. They also line the mouth, the nostrils, the 
throat, and trachea, and are found in all places throughout 
the body where openings occur. 

They have received different names, according to their 
locations and the parts which they invest. The prefix j>m, 
signifying over or covering, is used in connection with 
nearly all the more important of them, and, when thus em- 
ployed, it designates the membrane which is ovQr, or which 
incloses, the particular organ or part. Thus the periosteum 
invests the bones ; the pericranium lines the skull : the peri- 
cardium is the sack in which the heart is placed; the peri- 
toneum is the strong investing membrane of the external 
surface of the bowels, and covers the walls of the entire 
abdominal cavit3\ A notable exception to the usual nomen- 
clature of the membranes is afforded by the pleura, which 
envelops the lungs, and lines the cavity of the thorax, or 
chest. Every farmer and butcher's boy is familiar with the 
smooth, glossy appearance of the serous membrane through- 
out the regions of the lungs and bowels, and elsewhere, in 
the anatomy of the various domestic animals. 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 35 

The uf^e of the membranes is to protect the organs -which 
they inclose. The serous membrane is very thin, yet hard 
and tough. It is cut or penetrated with more difiicnlty than 
any other part of the bod}', except the bones. From its 
smooth surface, hurtful foreign substances readily glide oft*, 
if the force with which they strike it be not very considerable. 
One striking peculiarity of this membrane is its almost en- 
tire insensibility. It is too thin itself to contain nerves or 
blood-vessels of much size. A large number of these, how- 
ever, lie immediately beneath it. It has no diseases, as yet 
discovered, but may be torn or ruptured, of course. 

THE SKIN. 

The skin is the roof and covering of the horse's entire 
structure. The hair forms an essential appendage of the 
skin, and is most appropriately considered in connection 
with it. This is the clothing of the horse's body, renewed 
by Nature once a year. AYe extract from Youatt's excellent 
work upon the English horse the following interesting de- 
scription of the skin, and its functions : 

"The skin of the horse resembles in construction that of 
other animals. It consists of three layers, materially difter- 
ing in their structure and office. Externally is the cuticle — 
the epidermis, or scarf-skin — composed of innumerable thin, 
transparent scales, and extending over the whole animal. If 
the scarf-skin is examined by means of a microscope, the 
existence of scales, like those" of a fish, is readily detected. 
In the action of a blister, they are raised from the skin be- 
neath in the form of pellucid bladders, and, in some dis- 
eases, as in mange, they are thrown oft" in hard, dry, white 
scales, numerous layers of which are placed one above 
another. In ever}^ part of the body the scarf-skin is perme- 
ated by innumerable pores, some of which permit the pas- 
sage of the hair; through others the perspirable matter finds 
a passage ; others are perforated by tubes, through which va- 
rious unctuous secretions make their escape; while through 
a fourth variety numerous fluids and gases are inhaled. 



36 AMERICAN FARMERS HORSE BOOK. 

" There is, at all times, a singular change taking place 11 
the outer covering of the animal There is a constant alter- 
ation and renewal of every part of it, but it adheres to the 
true skin, through the medium of the pores, and also nu- 
merous little eminences or projections, which seem to be 
prolongations of the nerves of the skin. The cuticle is it- 
self insensible, but one of its most important functions is to 
protect and defend the parts beneath, which are so often ex- 
posed to a morbid sensibility. 

"Beneath the cuticle is a thin, soft substance, through 
which the pores and eminences of the true skin pass. It is 
termed the rete mucosum., from its web-like structure, and its 
soft, mucous consistence. Its office is to cover the minute 
vessels and nerves in their way from the cutis to the cuticle. 
It is also connected with the color of the skin. In horses 
with white hair, the rete mucosum is white; it is brown in 
those of a brown color; black in the black, and in patches of 
difterent colors with those the hue of whose integument varies. 
Like the cuticle, it is reproduced after abrasion or other injury. 

" The cutis, or true skin, lies beneath the rete mucosum. 
It is decidedly of a fibrous texture, ehistic, but with difficulty 
lacerated, exceedingly vascular, and highly sensitive. It is 
the substance which is converted into leather when removed 
from the body, and binds together the different parts of the 
frame. In some places it does this literally, and clings so 
closely to the substance beneath that it scarcely admits of 
any motion. This is the case about the forehead and the 
back, while upon the face, the sides, and flanks, it hangs in 
loosened folds. In the parts connected with progression it 
is folded into various duplicatures, that the action of the 
animal may admit of the least possible obstruction. The 
cutis is thinnest and most elastic on those parts that are 
least covered with hair, or where the hair is altogether de- 
ficient, as the lips, the muzzle, and the inside of the flanks. 
Whatever is the color of the rete mucosum, the true skin is 
of a pale white. In fact the cutis has no connection with 
the color of the hair. * * ^' 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 37 

"Over a great part of the frame lies a muscle peculiar to 
quadrupeds, and more extensive and powerful in the tliin- 
ekinned and thin-haired animals than those with tliicker 
hides. It reaches from the poll over the whole of the car- 
cass, and down to the arm before, and the stifle behind. By 
its contraction the skin is puckered in every direction, and 
if it acts strongly and rapidly, the horse is not only enabled 
to shake off any insect that may annoy him, but sometimes 
to displace a great part of his harness, and to render it diffi- 
cult for the most expert rider to keep his seat. This muscle 
also assists the skin in bracing that part of the frame which 
it covers, and, perhaps, gives additional strength to the 
muscles beneath. It is called the loanniculous carnosus, or 
fleshy pannicle or covering. 

" The skin answers the double purpose of protection and 
strength, \yhere it is necessary that the parts should be 
bound and knit together, it adheres so tightly that we can 
scarcely raise it. Thus the bones of the knees and the pas- 
terns, and the tendons of the legs, on which so much stress 
is frequently thrown, are securely tied down and kept in 
their places. * * * Of its strength we have abundant 
proof, both in the living and dead animal. Its fibers are 
interlaced in a most curious and intricate manner, so as, 
when living, to be scarcely lacerable, and converted into 
leather after death. 

"It is, while the animal is alive, one of the most elastic 
bodies with which we are acquainted. It not only perfectly 
adapts itself to the slow growth or decrease of the body, and 
appears equally to fit, whether the horse is in the plumpest 
condition or reduced to a skeleton ; but when a portion of it 
is distended to an extraordinary degree, in the most power- 
ful action of the muscles, it, in a moment, again contracts to 
its usual dimensions. 

"It is principally indebted for this elasticity to almost 
innumerable minute glands, which pour out an oily fluid that 
softens and supples it. When the horse is in health, and 
every organ discharges its proper functions, a certain quan- 



38 AMERICAN FARMERS HORSE BOOK. 

tity of this unctuous matter is spread over the surface of the 
skin, aud is contained in all the pores that penetrate its sub- 
etance; and the skin becomes pliable, easily raised from the 
texture beneath, and presenting that peculiar yielding soft- 
ness and elasticity which experience has proved to be the 
best proofs of the condition, or, in other words, the general 
health of the animal. Then, too, from the oiliness and soft- 
ness of the skin, the hair lies in its natural and proper direc- 
tion, and is smooth and glossy. When the system is deranged, 
and especially the digestive system, and the vessels concerned 
in the nourishment of the animal feebly act, those of the 
skin evidently sympathize. This oil is no more thrown out; 
the skin loses its pliancy; it seems to cling to the animal, 
aud we have that peculiar appearance which we call hide- 
bound. * * * 

"Besides the avenues already mentioned, through which 
proceeds the unctuous fluid that supples and softens the skin, 
there are others more numerous, by means of which a vast 
quantity of aqueous fluid escapes, and perspiration is carried 
on. As in the human being, this actually exists in a state 
of health and quietness, although imperceptible; but when 
the animal is excited by exercise, or labors under some stages 
of disease, it becomes visible, and appears in the form of 
drops. 

" This process of perspiration is not, however, so far under 
the control of medicine as in the human being. We are not 
aware of any drugs that will certainly produce it. Warm 
clothing seems occasionally to efiect it, but this is more in 
appearance than in reality. The insensible perspiration can- 
not escape through the mass of clothing, and assumes a vis- 
ible form. * 5i« * Of the existence of absorbent vessels 
on the skin, or those which take up some fluid or sub- 
stance, and convey it into the circulation, we have satisfac- 
tory proof. A horse is even more easily salivated than the 
human being." ^ 

*The correctness of this opinion we do not I'cgard as fully estiiblished. 



OUTLINE OF THE STEUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 39 



THE HAIR. 

In some parts of the horse's body — especially at the neck, 
where the mane appears, and from the dock, whence depends 
the tail — grows a peculiarly coarse, strong, stiii" hair. This is 
the horse-hair of upholsters and house-keepers, and is never 
shed. If it is plucked out or rubbed off, it grows out again, 
although slowly. 

But what chiefly interests us in this connection is the 
general coat of hair, which Nature has not only bestowed 
upon the horse as clothing, but has so arranged that it adapts 
itself to the extremes of heat and cold of the varying sea- 
sons. In the spring the old coat of thick, coarse hair comes 
off, and discovers a new one, about half an inch in length, 
ready to supply its place. This coat is finer and much thinner 
than that which has just been shed, and is admirably adapted 
to the change in temperature. AVhen the horse is in health, 
it has a smooth, glossy appearance, and is soft and downy to 
the touch. As the season again changes and the cold in- 
creases, a new suit of hair begins to show itself, much thicker 
and coarser. This is in addition to the finer summer coat, 
and together they form a dense covering of hair, capable of 
shielding the animal from great degrees of cold. 

We are satisfied that the horse does not shed his spring- 
coat upon the approach of winter, as many have stated. If 
any one will take the trouble to examine closely, he will find 
two kinds of hair in the winter coat. There are good reasons 
for believing that the summer hair takes a second growth as 
cold weather draws near. In fact the horse always has two 
kinds of hair. Even in summer there is intermingled with 
the longer, coarser kind, a shorter hair of almost silken soft- 
ness. Of the former fhe horse is relieved in the fall. The 
latter, which remains until the next spring, takes another 
growth, and forms the coarse hair of winter, while the fine 
hair of that season is of a new and much thicker growth. 
In the spring the whole of the old growth is shed, and with 
it a portion of the new, since otherwise there would be much 



40 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

more than the needs of the summer require. The old coat, 
as the weather continues growing warmer, is gradually re- 
placed by the new. Thus the suit which the horse will need 
in the fall begins to grow in the spring, and that for the 
spring in the fall. By these wise provisions Nature keeps 
the horse constantly in clothing. 

The oft-repeated assertion that the horse becomes much 
weakened and unhealthy during the process of shedding do 
not seem borne out by the facts. If any animal exhibits any 
such unfavorable symptoms at this period, the causes may 
be much more reasonably set down to the change in the sea- 
sons and from the stable, with its confinement and dry, 
unnatural diet to out-door life and grass. 

There are oily secretions in the skin, as already described 
in the extract we have given from Youatt, which in health 
pour out, and, spreading over the hair, give it the beautiful 
glossy appearance all so much admire ; but when disease is 
at work, these fountains are often closed, the coat assumes 
a rough, ragged look, and the hair stands out stift", dry, and 
bristling. 

THE FEET. ' 

Volumes might be written in regard to the feet, so pecu- 
liar is their construction, so important their uses, so severe 
their services, and so numerous the diseases with which they 
are afflicted. Many of the latter are among the most obstin- 
ate and serious of all the ailments to which horse-flesh is 
heir. In the veterinarian's descriptions, as in his practice, a 
large proportion of his time must be devoted to tlie feet. 

Their diseases will be treated of, in detail, in Chapter IV. 
We can here only stop to give a general outline of their 
complicated structure, which the reader will be greatly as- 
sisted in understanding by referring to the appropriate cuts 
already introduced. 

The hoof is the horny crust or wall that incloses the sen- 
sible or living portion of them, and extends from the hair 
downward to the edge that rests upon the ground. It is 



OUTLINE OF THE STEUCTUEE OF THE HOESE. 41 

longest in front, where its extreme point is called the toe. 
Behind it is open, and the crust terminates in a thick, por- 
ous skin, divided by a seam at the back part of the foot, 
and presenting two convex, lateral extensions, which together 
are called the heel. At the top of the crust, where it unites 
with the hair, is the coronary ring. This is a thick, spongy 
substance — soft hoof, in fact, in process of formation. It is 
to the horse's feet what the roots of the nails are to the 
human fingers and toes. Another crust, less brittle, and 
more elastic, extends under the foot, forming the sole, and 
presenting a somewhat concave surface to the ground. At 
the back part of the foot is a horny projection in the shape of 
a letter V, with its opening toward the heel. The two sides 
of this projection, which should unite at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees, are called the bars. What horsemen call 
the inside quarter of the foot, is that part without the bars, 
next to the opposite foot. The outside quarter lies upon the 
other side of the foot. "Within the bars is the frog. This 
is of the color of dark India-rubber, which substance it re- 
sembles in its degree of toughness and hardness, but possesses 
less elasticity. The entire crust of the frog is insensible, but 
at the depth of about half an inch is found the sensible or 
living portion, exceedingly tender, and filled with innumer- 
able little nerves and blood-vessels. 

Inside of the hoof are two spongy bones — the coifin and 
shuttle-bones (os pedis and os navicidare) — which are, at times, 
the seat of most obstinate disease. These occupy little more 
than one-half the space within the hoof; the remainder is 
filled by cartilages, tendons, and muscles, through , which 
ramifj- a greater proportionate distribution of little nerves 
and blood-vessels than can be found in any other part of 
the body. 

There is a very important tendon (the flexor tendon), ex- 
tending from the back part of the lower pastern bone (05 
coronce) and coffin-joint over the extremity of the shuttle- 
bone, where it divides into two parts, which pass down 
upon each side of the indentation of the heel and frog, and 



42 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

unite with the "lower extremities of the coiEn-bone. This 
tendon, together w^ith the shuttle-bone, forms the extension 
of the heel, and lies immediately upon the inner or sensible 
frog. Hence, any injuries which the latter may sustain will 
be likely to involve both this tendon and the soft shuttle- 
boue. 

THB BLOOD-VESSELS. 

Blood is defined by Dunglisou, in his Medical Dictionary, 
to be " an animal fluid formed chiefly from the chyle, ac- 
quiring important properties during respiration, entering 
every organ through the circulation, distributing the nutri- 
tive principle to every texture, and the source of every se- 
cretion. The blood is white in many of the inferior animals, 
and they have been called white-blooded to distinguish them 
from red-blooded, which class includes animals, birds, reptiles, 
and fishes. Human blood is composed of water, albumen, 
fibrine, an animal coloring substance, a little fatty matter, 
and the difierent salts, as chloride of potassium, phosphate 
of lime, subcarbonate of soda, lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, 
and lactate of soda, united with an animal coloring matter. 
Arterial blood is of a florid red color ; venous blood of a 
brownish red." 

The blood of the horse differs but slightly from that of 
the human being. The important functions which the vital 
fluid discharges in the animal economy is sufficiently indi- 
cated by the character and variety of its constituent ele- 
ments, all of which are needed to repair the waste and 
decay of the system, and which the blood is constantly car- 
rying to every part. In studying the blood of the horse at 
any particular season, we are studying his general condition ; 
and to keep it pure is the secret of maintaining the animal 
in health. 

Two principal components unite to form the blood. These 
are the serum, which is the watery fluid, and the coagulum, 
or clot. It is the latter which contains the little red corpus- 
cles which give color to the blood. In quantity, it much 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 43 

exceeds the serum. Every one can readily find opportuni- 
ties of marking the dift'erence between these constituents 
of the blood. It is only necessary to let rest for a few 
minutes a quantity of the latter, fresh drawn, when a coag- 
ulation will take place, by which the clot and serum will be 
separated. 

The circulatory process in animal life suggests the com- 
parison of a pond or lake, first fed by a few considerable 
streams, which have been formed by other and smaller ones, 
and these, in turn, by a multitude of little rills, originating 
in drops of water oozing almost imperceptibly from the 
earth ; then drained by other channels, which divide and 
subdivide into innumerable rivulets and trickling streams, 
until, at last, all become absorbed and lost beneath the sur- 
face. Yet from the reservoir, hidden in the bowels of the 
earth, the water finds its way to the surface, where it again 
oozes out in drops, which accumulate in streamlets and 
rivers, to feed the lake as before. Again the outlets spread 
out upon the other side, and ramify, until they are swallowed 
up beneath the surface. Thus the round continues indefi- 
nitely. 

In a similar manner the functions of circulation are car- 
ried forward. The heart is the reservoir; the veins, the 
feeding streams; the arteries, the streams that flow away 
upon the other side. 

The circulatory system of the horse, like that in the hu- 
man body, consists of the arteries, veins, and capillaries. 
The arteries are the vessels which convey the red, oxygen- 
ized blood from the heart to every part of the body. The 
capillaries are the net-work of minute vessels which ramify 
through every organ and part, and, though generally spoken 
of as constituting a distinct system of blood-vessels, should 
properly be regarded as simply the termination of the arte- 
ries and the commencement of the veins — the connecting 
links between the arterial and venous systems. The veins 
are the ducts, through which the blood, now become of a 
dark co^or. returns to the heart. 



44 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Each artery has three distinct coats. The outer one is ot 
a celhilar structure, and is capable of great distension; that 
upon the inside is a serous membrane, presenting internally 
a smooth surface, which serves to diminish the friction of 
the blood as it rushes on. The middle coat, largely com- 
posed of muscular fibers, is highly elastic. In it resides the 
power — without which circulation would be all but impossi- 
ble — of equalizing the flow of blood, retarding its impetuous 
velocity when near the heart, and accelerating it when con- 
siderably removed from that great central force-pump of the 
system. 

Although made up of the same number of coats, the walls 
of the veins are much thinner and weaker. These vessels 
are much more numerous than the arteries, notwithstanding 
which their ramifications may be described, in general terms, 
as corresponding with the latter. Their internal area is 
nearly double that of the arteries. They are, of course, much 
less directly affected by the action of the heart. Hence, their 
pulsations are scarcely perceptible, and the blood flows 
through them more slowly. A feature peculiar to the veins 
is the existence of valves, of various construction, which 
prevent the blood from returning upon its course, and as- 
sist in impelling it toward the heart. These are sometimes 
single, at others double, and occasionally arranged in threes 
and fours, around the interior of most, though not all, of the 
large veins. 

Thus far we have considered only the general circulation. 
"When we come to the beautiful process known as the pul- 
monary circulation, a portion of our description must be ex- 
actly reversed — the pulmonary artery conveying the impure, 
dark blood from the right ventricle of the heart to the lungs, 
where it is oxygenized, or purified, and thence returns to the 
left auricle of the heart, through the pulmonary vein, pos- 
sessed of a scarlet brightness. Interesting phenomena occur 
in connection with what physiologists term the portal circu- 
lation (pertaining to the liver), but they are exceptional and 
local. We must pass on to a description of the general plan 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTUKE OF THE HORSE. 45 

of the circulation, which has been ah^eady anticipated in 
some measure. 

After the purified blood has been returned to the left 
auricle of the heart, by the means just indicated, it passes 
into the left ventricle, whose thick, muscular walls contract 
^Vith immense power, and force it out, through the proper 
valves, into the aorta, the great artery of the whole body. 
This divides into two large branches, after proceeding about 
two inches. The smaller branch is extended, by a multitude 
of subdivisions, to every part of the head and fore extremi- 
ties; the larger one, in a similar manner, throughout the body 
and hind extremities. 

The blood is now freighted with the varied elements neces- 
sary for repairing the losses by natural decay and wear and 
tear, which every tissue in the whole body is constantly un- 
dergoing. This reparative process is what physiologists call 
nutrition. It is conducted in the capillaries, the minute and 
hair-like vessels in which the arteries every-where terminate. 
Although the capillaries vary greatly in their modes of rami- 
fication, according as they minister to gland, membrane, or 
muscular fiber, their offices are the same in all locations. 
These offices include, besides nutrition, the gathering up of 
the worn-out, worthless particles of matter which the organs 
of excretion are continually throwing off, through the circu- 
lation, in all parts of the system. In the performance of these 
duties, capillary action changes the color of the blood from 
a scarlet to a brownish red. It also develops animal heat. 

The veins now receive this dark blood at their origin amid 
the net- work of the capillaries, and convey it back to the 
heart. As they approach that organ, they continue to unite, 
and grow larger, of course. At length, they pour their entire 
contents through the two vena cavce, the veins which cor- 
respond to the great arterial branches of the aorta, into the 
right auricle. Only a thin wall of muscle now separates tlie 
blood from its starting-point, at the outlet of the left ventricle, 
upon the other side of the heart. But through this partition 
there is no passage ; nor is the blood ready to pass to the 



4G AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

other side, if there was one. Before it can be sent fortt 
again to minister to the needs of the body, it must be puri- 
fied. Not only must the particles of eflete, cast-off matter, 
which it has accumulated from every part of the system, be 
eliminated and thrown off; but the chyle also — the substance 
into which the nutritive elements of the food have been pre- 
viousl}^ converted by digestion — must be submitted to yet 
another process before it becomes fully prepared to afford the 
means of nutrition to the constantly disorganizing tissues of 
all kinds. (The chyle, it must be understood, empties into 
one of the vena cavce through the thoracic duct, and mingles 
with the venous blood which is returned to the right auricle.) 

These objects are accomplished through the pulmonary 
circulation already mentioned. The lungs, composed of two 
lobes, are of a spongy texture, and filled with innumerable 
little air-cells. They are furnished with an exceedingl}' fine 
net-work of capillary vessels, distributed on their walls, and 
throughout the surface of all the air-cells also. The impure 
venous blood, as it circulates through the capillaries, is sub- 
mitted to the agency of atmospheric air under extremely 
favorable circumstances. It -absorbs the oxygen of the air, 
and, at the same time, gives oft" large volumes of carbonic acid 
gas, this being the form in which the accumulated impurities 
of the blood now exist. The wonderful rapidity with which 
this process is carried on may be understood, when it is con- 
sidered that the extent of surface upon which the minute 
capillaries ramify in the lungs is supposed to be ten or 
twelve times that of the skin. 

Having been thus purified, the blood regains its bright red, 
or scarlet, appearance, and is again propelled forward, through 
the heart and arteries, upon the same excursion as before. 
It reaches every part of the body, perfectly ramifies throngh- 
out every organ, and permeates every muscle, tendon, liga- 
ment, bone, and even to the skin itself, and every hair upon 
its surface. There is no part, however minute, remote, or 
unimportant, to which it does not find its way, by means of 
the divisions and innumerable subdivisions of the vessels 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 47 

whicli convoy it. There is no tissue anywhere in the entire 
system which does not receive from the blood the elements 
essential for its development and health — the materials, in 
fact, of which it is composed. After its work is done here, 
the blood becomes the scavenger of the body, collecting the 
impure and deleterious excretions, and returning with them 
to the heart and thence to the lungs, there to be exhaled in 
the breath, as already described. 

The importance of the arterial flow can hardly be estimated. 
Without it no function could be discharged, and, in fact, life 
itself would be extinct. Yet it may be made the sure means 
of disease, by forcing it into harmful and poisonous sub- 
stances. Great and constant attention should be exercised 
in regard to the materials introduced into the stomach, either 
as food or medicine, since they so surely and speedily find 
their way into the stomach. 

THE HEART. 

Of the heart, much has necessarily been said in the pre- 
ceding section. All that now remains to be added is a de- 
scription of its different parts, and their oflices. It occupies 
the space between the lungs denominated the mediastinum, 
and is invested bj' a double membrane of its own, called the 
pericardium. This forms a little sac, whose office it is to sup- 
port the heart in its natural position, and prevent friction 
between the heart and the surrounding parts. 

Four cavities occupy the spaces within the walls of the 
heart — two above, called auricles, from their fancied resem- 
blance in form to the ear, and two below, called ventricles. 
The walls of each ventricle are much thicker than those of 
the auricle upon the same side, and also in the left ventricle 
than in the right. "Why this difference is quite plain, from 
the uses of each of these parts, as explained in the last sec- 
tion. The ventricles are in that part of the heart toward its 
apex, or point. 

Into the right auricle open the two vena cavse and the cor- 
onary veins, — those which supply the heart itself with blood. 



48 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The right ventricle communicates with the right auricle by 
an orilice provided with a valve. From it arises the pul- 
monary arterj', through which the venous blood is forced to 
the lungs by the contraction of this ventricle. After being 
purified in the lungs, the blood is carried back to the left 
auricle of the heart by the four pulmonary veins, (eight in 
number when they leave the lungs,) which thus carry arterial 
blood. From the left auricle the blood passes through the 
mitral valve into the left ventricle, whose powerful walls 
contract and force it out into the aorta, the great arterial 
trunk, from which diverge, by successive subdivisions, all 
the other arteries in the body. 

We have seen that there is no communication through the 
muscular partition separating the right and left sides of the 
heart. This mode of structure gives much increased power 
to the contraction of the heart, which is simultaneous upon 
both sides. 

The blood, then, is forced through the arteries by successive 
impulsions, which are caused by contractions of the heart. 
When an artery of considerable size comes near the surface, 
these successive impulsions may be distinctly seen through 
the skin and coats of the artery, or they may be felt by lay- 
ing the linger upon them. This is the simple explanation of 
the pulse in one's wrist. Similar pulses are found in other 
parts of the body, but none so plain and distinct. We say 
the pulse is slow when ih.Q heart acts sluggishly; or fast 
when, from disease or excitement, its action is heightened. 
The beats of the pulse simply indicate so many impulsions 
of the blood from the heart. 

THE POKES. 

These have been partially described, in the extract from 
Youatt introduced in the section treating of the skin. They 
are the extremities of the capillaries. Physiologists classify 
them as of two kinds — absorbents and exjialants. The former 
take up and carry into the circulation portions of the difter- 
ent fluids and gases with which they come in contact on the 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 45 

surface of the skin. The exhalants throw out fluids to the 
surface : an oily matter, to kibricate the skin and keep it 
soft and pliant; and moisture — a not inconsiderable quan- 
tity of water — whose purpose, although not clearly demon- 
strated, is probably to dilute and accelerate thQ flow of the 
unctuous secretions. 

THE BEAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 




SECTIONAL VIKW OF THE HEAD. 

The cut represents a section of the head, and shows not 
only the location of the difi^erent parts of the brain, with the 
cranial bones, which inclose it, but also gives the anatomy 
of that entire member, and of the neck. It will be found 
exceedingly useful for reference, in connection with several 
other sections of this work. 

a The nasal bone, or bone of the nose. 

b The frontal bone. The cavities or cells beneath are called the frontal sin- 
uses, 
c The crest or ridge of the parietal bones. 

d The tentorium, or bony separation between the cerebrum and cerebellum. 
e The occipital bone. 

4 



50 AMEEICAN FARMER'S nORSE BOOK. 

/ The ligi^meiit of the neck — the xvhii-leather, or pack-wax — by which the head 
is chiefly supported. 

g The sitlas, sustaining or carrying : the first bone of the neck. 

h The dentata [tooth-like) or second bone of the neck. 

i The cuneiform, or ivedge-shaped process, or base of the occipital bone. Be- 
tween it and the other portion of the occipital bone e, lies the great for- 
amen, or aperture, through which the prolongation of the brain — the 
spinal marrow — issues froni the skull. 

k The sphenoid {wedge-like) bone, with its cavities. 

I Tlie ethmoid [sieve-like) bone, with its cells. 

m The cerebrum, or brain, with the appearance of its cortical and medullary 
substance. 

n The cerebellum, or little brain, with its beautiful arborescent appearance. 

A portion of the central medullary [marrow-like) substance of the brain, 

and the prolongation of it under the name of the crus cerebri [leg of the 
brain), and from which many of the nerves take their origin. 

p The medulla oblongata — the prolongation of the brain after the medullary 
substance of the cerebrum and cerebellum have united, and forming the 
commencement of the spinal marrow. The columnar appearance of this 
portion of the brain is represented, and the origins of the respiratory 
nerves. 

q The spinal marrow e-^tending through a canal in the center of the bones of 
the neck, back, and loins, to the extremities of the tail, and from which 
the nerves of feeling and of motion, that supply every part of the frame, 
except the head, arise. 

r The septum narium, or cartilaginous division between the nostrils. 

s The same cut off at the lower part, to show the spongy turbinated [turban- 
shaped) bones filling the cavity of the nostril. 

t The palate. 

u The molar teeth, or grinders. 

V The inferior maxillary bone, containing the incisor teeth, or nippers. The 
canine tooth, or tush, is concealed by the tongue. 

w The posterior maxillary, or lower jaw, with its incisors. 

X The lips. 

y The tongue. 

2 A portion of the os hyoides, or bone of the tongue, like a Greek u, v. 

1 The thyroid [helmet-shaped) cartilage of the larynx, inclosing and shielding 

the neighboring parts. 

2 The epiglottis, or covering of the glottis, or aperture of the wind-pipe. 

3 The arytenoid [funnel-shaped) cartilage of the larynx, having between 

them the aperture leading into the trachea or windpipe. 

4 One of the chordee vocales, cords or ligaments concerned in the formation 

of the voice. 
6 The sacculus lar^'ugis, sac or ventricle of the larynx, or throat, to modulate 
the voice. 

6 The trachea, or windpipe, with its different rings. 

7 The soft palate at the back of the mouth, so constructed as almost to pre- 

vent the possibility of vomiting. 

8 The opening from the back part of the mouth into the nostril 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE IKlRSE. 51 

9 Tlie cartilage covering the entrance into the eustachian tube, or communi- 
cation between the mouth and internal part of the ear. 

10 The oesophagus, or gullet. 

11 The cricoid {ring-like) cartilage of the larynx, below and behind the thyroid. 

12 Muscle of the neck, covered by the membrane of the back part of the mouth. 

All the agents coiicenied in the existence and movements 
of animal life would be utterly inert and powerless, had they 
not been combined with some motive power to excite and 
regulate their action. Such a motive power the Creator has 
provided in that wonderful organization the nervous system, 
consisting of the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves. 

There are many tilings difficult to be understood in regard 
to the nervous sj'stem and its operations. Some of these are 
too deep for the wisest and most learned to fathom, much 
less to satisfactorily 'explain. But the careful reader can get 
a good general idea of the structure and offices of its differ- 
ent parts by means of the descriptions which we shall give, 
aided by the foregoing cut. Perhaps we can do no better 
than to quote from Youatt : 

" The brain of the horse corresponds with the cavity in 
which it is placed. It is a flattened oval. It is divided into 
two parts, one much larger than the other — the cerebrum, or 
brain, (see m, in cut,) and the cerebellum, or little brain, (see 
n.) In the human being, the cerebrum is above the cere- 
bellum ; in the quadruped, it is below ; and yet in both they 
retain the same relative situation. [This arises from the fact 
that in man the head surmounts the body perpendicularly, 
while in quadrupeds its position is relatively slanting.] 

" He who for the first time examines the brain of the 
horse will be struck with its comparatively diminutive size. 
The human being is not, generally speaking, more than one- 
half or one-third of the size and weight of the horse,* yet 
the brain of the biped is twice as large and as heavy as that 
of the quadruped. If it had been the brain of the ox that 
had been here exposed, instead of that of the horse, it would 



* This is a singularly weak statement for so careful a writer. The weight of 
the horse's body is at least eight times that of a man's. 



52 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

not have been of half the bulk of that of the horse. If the 
dog had been the subject, it would have been very consider- 
ably larger, comparing the general bulk of each animal. 
This is singular. The human brain is largest in comparative 
bulk; then the brain of the dog, the horse, the ox. Thus 
would they be classed in the order of intelligence. 

" When the brain is cut, it is found to be composed of two 
substances very unlike in appearance, (see m, in cut;) one, 
principally on the outside, gray or ash-colored, and therefore 
called the cortical {bark like), from its situation, and cineritious, 
(ashen), from its color; and the other, lying deeper in the 
brain, and from its pulpy nature, called the medullary sub- 
stance. Although placed in opposition with each other, and 
seemingly mingling, they never run into the same mass, or 
change by degrees into one another, but are essentially dis- 
tinct in construction as well as in function. 

" The medullary portion is connected with the nervous sys- 
tem. The nerves are prolongations of it, and are concerned 
in the discharge of all the offices of life. They give motion 
and energy to the limbs, the heart, the lungs, the stomach, 
and every part connected with life. They are the medium 
through which sensation is conveyed ; and they suppl}' the 
mind with materials to think and work upon. 

"The cineritious part has a different appearance, and is dif- 
ferently constituted. Some have supposed, and with much 
appearance of truth, that it is the residence of the mind, 
receiving the impressions that are conve^^ed to the brain b}'' 
the sensitive nerves, and directing the operation and action 
of those which give motion to the limbs. In accordance with 
this, it happens that, where superior intelligence is found, the 
cineritious portion prevails, and where little beside brute 
strength and animal appetite exist, the medullary portion is 
enlarged. There is, comparing bulk with bulk, less of the 
medullary substance in the horse than in the ox, and in the 
dog than in the horse. The additional bulk of brain is com- 
posed of cineritious matter. 

"From the medullary substance, as already stated, proceed 



OUTLINE OF THE STKUCTURE OF TUE HORSE. 53 

certain cords or prolongations, termed nerves, by wbicli the 
animal is enabled to receive impressions from surrounding 
objects, and to connect himself with them, and also to pos- 
sess many pleasurable or painful sensations. One of them 
is spread over the membrane of the nose, and gives the sense 
of smell ; another expands on the back of the eye, and the 
faculty of sight is gained; and a third goes to the internal 
structure of the ear, and the animal is conscious of sound. 
Other nerves, proceeding to dliferent parts, give the faculty 
of motion, while an equally important one bestows the power 
of feeling. 

" One division of nerves, (see h, in cut,) springing from 
a prolongation of the brain, and yet within the skull, wan- 
ders to different parts of the frame for important purposes 
connected with respiration or breathing. The act of breath- 
ing is essential to life, and were it to cease, the animal would 
die. These are nerves of involuntary motion; so that, whether 
he is awake or asleep, conscious of it or not, the lungs heave, 
and life is supported. 

"Lastly, from the spinal cord, (see q, in cut,) a further 
prolongation of the brain, and running through a cavity in 
the bone of the neck, back, and loins, and extending to the 
very tip of the tail, other nerves are given off at certain in- 
tervals. The spinal cord is combined of six distinct columns 
or rods, running through its whole length, three on either 
side. The two upper columns proceed from those tracks of 
the brain devoted to sensation. Numerous distinct fibers 
spring abruptly from the column, which collect together, 
and, passing through a little ganglion or enlargement, (an 
enlargement of a nervous cord is called a ganglion,) become 
a nerve of sensation. From the lower or inner side — a pro- 
longation of the track devoted to motion — proceed other 
fibers, which also collect gradually together, and form a 
nervous cord, giving the power of motion. Beyond the 
ganglion the two unite and form a perfect spinal nerve, 
possessing the power of both sensation and motion ; and the 
fibers of the two columns proceed to their destinations, en- 



54 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

veloped in the same sheatli, and, apparently, one nerve. 
Eacli portion, however, continues to be wrapped in its own 
membrane. They are united, yet distinct; they constitute 
one nerve, yet neither their substance nor their office is 
confounded. 

" All these nerves are organs of sensation and motion 
alone ; but there are others whose origin seems to be outside 
of and below the brain. Tliese are the sympathetic, so called 
from their union and sympathy with all the others, and 
identified with life itself. They proceed from a small gang- 
lion, or enlargement, in the upper part of the neck, or from 
a collection of little ganglia in the abdomen. They go to 
the heart, and it beats ; and to the stomach, and it digests. 
They form a net-work around each blood-vessel, and the 
current flows on; they surround the very minutest vessels, 
and the frame is nourished and built up; they are destitute 
of sensation, and they are perfectly beyond the control of 
the will." 

A later Eno-llsh writer* gives the followins; clear and com- 
prehensive summary of the divisions of the nervous system : 

"In the horse, as in all the vertebrata, [those animals sup- 
plied with a vertebra, or back-bone,] the nervous system is 
made up of the following parts: 1. The ganglia, which are 
intended to subserve what are called the reflex actions of 
the organs of locomotion, etc., and which occupy the wholo 
length of the spinal cord, one on each side. 2. The respiratory 
ganglia, situated higher up, toward the brain, constituting the 
part called mcdalla oblongata, (see y, in cut,) and placed in su- 
perintendence over the functions of respiration, mastication, 
and deglutition. 3. A series of ganglia, controlling the organs 
of special sense, [the sense of sight, of hearing, of taste, etc.,] 
situated at the base of the brain. 4. The cerebellum, which 
seems especially intended to combine and balance the several 
muscular actions of the body. 5. The cerebrum, which is 
the seat of intelligence and will. 6. The sympathetic sys- 



J. H. Walsh (Stonehenge). 



OUTLINE OF THE ST]IUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 5a 

tern of ganglia, which specially controls the vital organs of 
circulation, digestion, and excretion. The first five divisions 
are generally included under the head of the nervous system 
of animal life, the last heing considered to be peculiar to 
organic life." 

Before passing to the next section, we must not forget to 
mention the membranes of the brain. These are three in 
number, each completely investing it. The outer or upper 
one is called the dura mater, and is fibrous in texture, and quite 
strong. The middle one, called arachnoid^ is a serous mem- 
].>er of the ordinary character. The inner one, denominated 
the jpia mater, is full of vessels, and is by far the most tender. 
Being next the brain, however, it is less exposed to injury 
than the others. The jpia mater penetrates into every depres- 
sion, lines every ventricle, and clothes every portion of the 
brain. 

RESPIRATORY ORGANS. 

The important function of respiration is carried on through 
the lungs and the nasal cavities, and the tubes by which these 
are brought into communication, with the assistance of the 
inspiratory muscles and the system of respiratory nerves. 

The lungs are invested by the "pleura, a serous membrane, 
which is reflected or doubled back upon the walls of the 
thorax, or chest. They t3onsist of two conical, spongy bodies, 
called the right and left lobes of the lungs. They are di- 
vided from each other by a doubling of the pleura and a 
space, called the mediastinum, which is occnpied by the heart. 
great blood-vessels, nerves, and glands. The right lobe is 
noticeably the larger, by which arrangement the lungs are 
better adapted to the form of the chest, and enabled more 
perfectly to till it. In consequence of their extremely cellu- 
lar or porous structure, they are capable of great expansion 
and contraction during the operation of breathing. 

The substance of which the lungs are mainly composed is 
the pulmonary tissue, termed the parenchyma. This, in the 
healthful subject, has a beautiful pale-rose color. It is very 



5G AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

delicate, yet resists external violence with sufficient streng-tli 
as not to be easily broken. When minutely examined, it is 
found to be composed of a countless number of very small, 
irregularly-shaped compartments, called lobules, each en- 
tirely distinct, and all without any communication one with 
another. What is known as broken wind is occasioned by 
the rupture of the walls of some of these little compart- 
ments. Each lobule receives one of the terminating branches 
of a bronchial tube, and is again broken up into a cluster 
of air-cells, on the walls of which the capillary branches of 
the pulmonary arteries and veins are spread out. The in- 
numerable air-cells are lined with a thin, attenuated mem- 
brane, through which the blood, in passing through the 
lungs, appropriates the oxygen, the life-giving principle of 
the air, and gives off the poisonous carbonic acid gas which 
the venous circulation has brought back from all parts of 
the system. Carbonic acid gas is highly destructive to ani- 
mal life, and is that element which chiefly makes the ex- 
haled breath so peculiarly offensive. 

The nasal cavities subserve the purposes of respiration, by 
modifying the condition of the impure air, so as that it may 
be taken into the delicate air-cells of the lungs without in- 
jury. They warm the air, if it is too cold ; the}^ moisten it, 
if it is too dry. In the horse, the nostrils are remarkable as 
furnishing the sole means of admitting air to the lungs, such 
being the formation of his soft palate that breathing through 
the mouth is impossible ; yet he is enabled, b}'^ considerable 
effort, to expel the air through the mouth in the operation 
of coughing. The nostrils are lined with what anatomists 
designate the Schneiderian membrane, whose appearance, and 
especially its color, is an invaluable test for detecting the 
presence, and tracing the course, of fever in the system. 

From the nostrils the air passes first into the larynx, or 
throat ; thence into the trachea, or windpipe ; and, finally, 
through the bronchial tubes into the lungs. 

Besides its services in respiration, the larynx (see 4 and 5 
in last cut) forms the vocal sounds uttered by different ani- 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 57 

mals, as well as those produced by the human voice. In the 
horse, however, these vocal sounds are few, so that this func- 
tion is not an important one. The larynx is situated imme- 
diately behind and below the nasal cavities. It consists of 
five strong cartilages, united together by ligaments. One of 
these cartilages is that remarkable little valve-like appendage 
called the epiglottis (see 2 in cut). This somewhat resembles 
a heart in shape, and is so attached that, when the animal 
swallows, it shuts downward and backward, so as to entirely 
close the opening to the larynx. Thus the food and water, 
in their passage to the stomach, are prevented from entering 
the lungs, but go onward into the oesophagus, or gullet (see 
10 in cut), after which the elastic muscles of the epiglottis in 
an instant throw it back to its original position, and the 
windpipe is open again. 

IText below the larynx comes the trachea, or windpipe, 
(see 6 in cut,) which is a flexible tube, made up of about fifty 
incomplete, cartilaginous rings, connected together by a strong, 
elastic membrane. It terminates in the bronchi, or two 
bronchial tubes, of which the right is the more capacious, 
corresponding with the difierence in size of this lobe of the 
lungs. These tubes again divide and subdivide, like the 
branches of a tree, into lesser tubes, still called bronchial, 
which finally open into the air-cells of the lungs. As they 
thus continue to divide, they diminish in size, of course, until 
at last their diameter is only the one twenty-fifth part of an 
inch. 

The philosophy of respiration we have already explained, 
in connection with the circulation. The lungs operate on 
the same principle as a pair of bellows. By the action of 
the inspiratory muscles — situated in the thorax and abdo- 
men — the cavity of the chest is expanded, when the air 
rushes in to fill the vacuum. The muscles then contract, and 
the air, laden with its foul gases, is forcibly expelled. They 
are under the control of the will only to a limited degree. 



58 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



THE SALIVARY GLANDS — SECRETION AND EXCRETION DEFINED. 

"A gland may be defined to be an organ whose office it is 
to separate from the blood some peculiar substance, which is 
poured out through an excretory duct, whose internal surface 
is continuous with the mucous membrane or skin. 

"By secretion is understood the process of separation of 
various matters from the blood, the term being also applied 
to the products of the process, such as saliva, bile, etc., which 
are commonlj^ known as secretions. These are all removed 
from the blood for one of two purposes; first, in order to be 
employed for some ulterior object in the various processes 
going on in the body, either for its own preservation or that 
of others; or, secondly, 'as being injurious to its welfare, and, 
therefore, to be discarded." 

It has been customary to distinguish this function accord- 
ing as it has for its object one or the other of the purposes 
above indicated. By this distinction, the term secretion is 
limited to the former action, while the latter receives the 
name of excretion. These are the senses in wdiich the terms 
are used in this work. 

The throat is a part of the horse's frame that is plentifully 
supplied with glands. It has three sets of these, throwing 
out their secretions of saliva to form the spittle of the mouth. 
In the horse, although there is somewhat less of this dis- 
charge than in the human being, its quantity is surprisingly 
great, not less than four or five gallons in every twenty-four 
hours. The principal use of the saliva is to moisten the food 
during the process of mastication. 

The most important of the salivary glands is the parotid. 
This is placed in the hollow that extends from the root of 
the ear to the angle of the lower jaw-bone. It is composed 
of numerous small glands, uniting in one common duct, that 
discharges its contents into the mouth opposite the second 
jaw tooth. The quantity of fluid secreted by the parotid 
gland alone is estimated to be not less than one pint per 
hour, and, during mastication, nearly twice as much. It is 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTUKE OF THE HOESE. 59 

generallj' affected in all throat diseases, and in colds is nearly 
always found swollen, hot, and tender. 

Occupying the space between the two bones of the nnder- 
jaw, is found the set of submaxillary glands, which also 
empty through one common channel into the mouth, at the 
roots of the tongue, and a short distance from the front tectli. 
In severe colds, the submaxillary gland often enlarges, the 
little kernels of which it is made up swelling so as to be dis- 
tinctly felt when pressed upon by the hand. 

The sublingual gland is the smallest of the three. It is 
situated between the middle of the tongue and the lower 
jaw, and opens into the same part of the mouth as the sub- 
maxillary, by a number of minute orifices under the tongue, 
whose terminations resemble little folds of skin, or tiny blad- 
ders. These sometimes become inflamed, and then have the 
appearance of little sores, or ulcers. This is soon corrected 
by the efforts of Nature alone, in nearly all cases ; but, if it 
should be thought best to attempt any treatment, the horse's 
mouth may be washed with the solution of golden seal, or 
chlorate of potash. 

Besides these glands, there are smaller ones in every part 
of the mouth, the clieeks, the tongue, the lips, and several 
other portions of the throat. They all pour out secretions, 
which enter into the composition of the saliva. 

THE STOMACH AND INTESTINAL ORaANS. 

Although not really included within this division of the 
horse's anatomy, the cesophagus, or gullet, will be most ap- 
propriately considered in connection with the digestive appa- 
ratus. It is a funnel-shaped tube, or bag, of muscular struc- 
ture, and is lined with mucous membrane — the same in 
general character as that which is spread over the inside of 
the mouth and nose. It extends from the pharynx — which 
is simply a continuation of the extreme back part of the 
mouth — to the stomach, in its course traversing the whole 
length of the chest, and passing through an opening in the 
diaphragm, or midriff. It is, at first, placed behind the 



60 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

larynx, and, with reference to the trachea, is situated to the 
left. 

The digestive organs of the horse are so important, as re- 
gards both their aggregate size and their functions, and are 
so extremely liable to sudden and severe attacks of disease, 
that every farmer and horseman should be at especial pains 
to get a correct notion of their structure, and the offices which 
they severally perform. The reader of this section will de- 
rive material assistance in fixing its descriptions in his mind 
by turning to Chapter XIII, and carefully studying, in con- 
nection with our descriptions, the representations of the 
stomach and the bowels, which are there introduced. To 
aid him in this we shall frequentl}^ refer him to those cuts. 

The stomach of the horse is very small, when compared 
with the great bulk of his entire body, or with the relative 
size of the same organ in man. Its average capacity is about 
three gallons; while the stomach of man, whose weight is 
hardly one-eighth of that of the horse, contains frequently 
three quarts. As the vegetable diet, however, upon which 
the horse subsists, yields a smaller proportion of nutritive 
matter than animal food, and that proportion with greater 
difficulty, it is necessary that the animal should be provided 
with a digestive apparatus of greater extent and perfect 
efficiency. What seems to be wanting in the stomach of the 
horse, we accordingly find made up in the formation of the 
intestines, which are long, large, and complicated. We will 
consider them presently. 

Two openings and two sacs form the features which one 
would be most likely to notice first, in examining the stom- 
ach. The upper opening is the connection with the oesopha- 
gus. It is called the cardiac orifice, and in the cut of the 
stomach is shown at h. Youatt describes this entrance of 
the cosophagus into the stomach as follows : " The oesopha- 
gus enters in a somewhat curved direction. It runs obliquely 
through the muscular and cuticular coats for some distance, 
and then its fibers arrange themselves around the opening 
into the stomach. Close observation has shown that they 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 61 

arrange themselves into segments of circles, interlacing each 
other, and, by their contraction, plainly and forcibly closing 
the opening, so that regurgitation of the food (vomiting) is 
almost impossible." 

The other opening is that which communicates with the 
intestines. It is called the ■pijlorus, (literally, door-keepers,) 
or j^l/ioric orifice. In the cut it is imperfectly represented at/. 
We quote again from Youatt : "At the lower, or pyloric 
orifice, the muscles are also increased in number and in size. 
These are arranged in the same manner (as around the car- 
diac orifice), with sufficient power to resist the pressure of 
the diaphragm, and retain the contents of the stomach until 
they have undergone the digestive process." 

Similar names have been given the two sacs — the cardiac 
and pyloric. The division of the stomach into these two 
parts is not uniformly marked in different horses, but is gen- 
erally indicated, more or less plainly, by a constriction. It 
is shown in the cut by d d, the jagged and heavily shaded 
line between cc and e e. The cardiac sac is simply a reser- 
voir of the food, while the pyloric is the real digestive 
stomach. 

The stomach is composed of three coatings. The outer 
coat is a serous membrane, and simply a continuation of the 
peritoneum, which lines the entire abdominal cavity. ISText 
to this is the muscular, or middle coating, consistii g of two 
sets of fibers crossing each other transversely, which give to 
it a considerable power of contraction and expansion. Bj' 
this means a gentle vibratory motion is imparted to the stom- 
ach, and all its contents are properly mingled together and 
carried forward. The internal coating is not the same in the 
two sacs of the stomach. In the cardiac sac it is commonly 
called the cutieular (skin-like), or insensible coating (see c c in 
cut); in the pyloric, the mucous or villous (velvet) coating 
(see ee in cut). 

The cutieular lining is a continuation of that of the oeso- 
phagus. It is whitish brown in color, tough, and compara- 
tively dry. It covers only about one-third of the internal 



62 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

area of the stomacli— in the upper part, of course, next tlio 
gullet. In structure it is web-like, with a somewhat loose 
attachment to the muscular membrane, from which it mnj 
be easily separated after death. AYhen washed and cleaned, 
it has the appearance of gauze, or hue net-work. The vil- 
lous coating of the stomach is of a brownish red, marbled 
with lighter tints of the same color, and possesses a delicate 
texture, so as to be easily torn ; yet it has an exceedingly 
limited degree of sensibility, since, were it otherwise, many 
common articles of the horse's food could not be digested 
without great pain. ISTumerous little capillary tubes have 
their outlet upon this membrane, and pour out a peculiar 
secretion, which continues the softening process already be- 
gun in the mouth by the saliva. This is the gastric fluid. It 
acts not only as a solvent, but also contributes other mate- 
rials — especially what is called iKpsbu — that greatly facilitate 
digestion. 

By these agencies the food is converted into the substance 
called chyme, which passes out through the pylorus into the 
intestines, there to be still further digested, its nutritive par- 
ticles taken up and transferred to the general circulation, 
and its waste matter duly avoided. 

The intestines, to which we have now come, in the natural 
progress of our descriptions, constitute a hollow tube, with 
many windings and convolutions, nearly ninety feet long in 
an average-sized horse. In diameter the tube varies exceed- 
ingly at different parts. The intestines have three coat- 
ings — the same, indeed, as the stomach, with only this differ- 
ence, that they nowhere exhibit the cuticular lining. These 
membranes, however, are not precisely identical in their sev- 
eral arrangements and uses throughout their entire length. 

The muscular coating of the intestines is composed of two 
sets of fibers, crossing each other at right angles, and each 
running transversely with the line of the bowels. In certain 
intestinal diseases of the horse, it is subject to fearful contrac- 
tions, producing what are called strictures. In the mucous 
or internal membrane are seated myriads of little capillary 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTUEE OF THE HORSE. 63 

vessels, which have their mouths upon its surface, an/1 are 
constantly taking up the nutritive extracts of the digested 
food and conveying them into the blood. The point of the 
finest needle could not be put down anywhere upon the 
mucous surface on which these vessels are distributed with- 
out resting upon one or more of these little mouths. From 
the effects of severe ill-usage, as well as of certain diseases, 
these absorbents sometimes cease to act. Should they remain 
inactive, the horse, with his supply of nutrition thus cut off, 
is soon reduced to a famishing condition. 

Only two natural divisions are found in the alimentary 
canal. These are the large and small intestines. Anatomists, 
however, have divided each of these parts into three sections. 
This subdivision is particularly arbitrary in regard to the 
small intestines, between whose three sections it is impossible 
to discover any defined boundary lines. Hence in the cut 
of these organs, which appears in Chapter XIII, we have 
not attempted to index the different portions of the small 
bowels. Their continuous series of convolutions, however, 
are represented very naturally and plainly at b b. 

The small intestines occupy rather more than two-thirds 
of the whole length of the alimentary duct, being between 
sixty and seventy feet in length. From their comparatively 
small diameter, however, they will contain only a little more 
than one-half as much as the large bowels. "When fully ex- 
panded, they will hold about eleven gallons; the others about 
nineteen. Adding to these amounts the three gallons which 
represent the measure of the stomach, and we find that the 
entire capacity of the digestive tube is the enormous aggre- 
gate of thirty-three gallons. 

The three sections into which anatomists divide the small 
intestines have received the names of the duodenum, jeju- 
num, and ileum. 

Duodenum is a Latin w^ord, signifying twelve. It is thus 
applied because this part of the bowels in man is about 
twelve inches long. In the horse, however, its length is 
about twenty-two inches. It extends from the pyloric orifice 



1 



64 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



of the stomacli to the eutrauce of the biliary and pancreatic 
ducts. (See a, in cut of intestines.) 

The jejunum — from the word jejune, meaning empty — is 
so called because it is nearly always found quite empty after 
the animal's death. This is in consequence of the great 
rapidity with which the food passes through it. It is of 
smaller diameter than the duodenum, and floats more loosely 
in the abdomen. 

Last of the small intestines comes the ileum, whose walls 
are more muscular and thicker than those of the jejunum. 

The ileum terminates in the coeciun, or blind gut, the first 
of the lara'e intestines. Its entrance is not into the end of 
this, as would naturally be expected, but near the head, or 
outlet, as shown in the cut, where the coecum appears prom- 
inently at e. It follows, from this arrangement, that the food 
which passes into this blind pouch must twice traverse its 
whole length, on its return from the closed end of the pouch 
passing directly by the mouth of the ileum, where it is pre- 
vented from re-entering by a peculiar valve. In the coecum, 
as is supposed, the larger proportion of the process of absorb- 
ing the nutritive elements of chyle is conducted. IS'early all 
the water which the horse swallows passes at once into this 
gut, without any delay in the stomach and small intestines. 

The coecum is connected with the next intestine, the colo7i, 
(see fg g, in cut,) by a considerably larger neck than with the 
small intestine. The colon is very large, and occupies two- 
fifths of the abdominal cavity. It is generally found filled 
with the alimentary substances. Its contents are made up 
of the coarser parts of the food, and become hard and solid. 
Being deprived of nearly all its moisture and nutrition, the 
food reaches the tapering portion of the colon, which is di- 
vided into sections, or compartments, by a number of circular 
bands surrounding and puckering it. By these, the foeces is 
separated into balls, upon which they contract, their absorb- 
ents extracting the last remaining nutrition, when, by a fur- 
ther contraction, each ball is forced onward to the rectum, 
from whence it is discharged. 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 65 

Terminating in the anus, (see i, in cut,) is the next and last 
intestine, the rectum (see h, in cut). Its name signifies straight, 
which it much more nearly is than the other bowels. It is 
much shorter than the colon, with less than one-fourth the 
capacity. As no portion of digestion remains to be carried 
on here, its mucous lining is not exactly the same as in the 
other parts of the intestines, and is entirely destitute of ca 
pillary absorbents. The rectum forms a capacious reservoir 
for the excrement until evacuated. This is retained in its 
place by the curious circular muscle at the anus, called the 
sphincter muscle, until the horse, by a voluntary effort, expels 
it. B}' these means, Nature prevents a constant and disagree- 
able dropping of the foeces. 

A doubling of the peritoneum, called the mesentery, (see c, 
in cut,) forms the means by which the intestines are chiefly 
retained in their relative positions. It includes within its 
folds all the intestines, extending along their entire length. 
It is furnished with a large artery and a large vein — each 
called the mesenteric — and is every- where filled with innum- 
erable small vessels, that supply the bowels with blood, and 
others which convey the extracted nutriment from the in- 
testines to the general circulation. 

The omentum, or cawl, (not shown in cut,) is a twice doubled 
fold of the peritoneum, thus consisting of four layers of it, 
which are placed between the intestines and the sides of the 
belly. By some it has been supposed to answer the purpose 
of a soft padding, to relieve the violent concussions and pre- 
vent the injuries which rapid motion would be likely to pro- 
duce. It is unusually short in the horse. 

THE LIVER. 

In the horse the liver undoubtedly performs the same of- 
fices as in the human being ; but these are involved in much 
obscurity. It secretes the bile from the venous blood, (sup- 
plied to it by the portal circulation,) which, if retained 
therein, would poison the whole system; but which, when 
mingled with the chyme, is of the highest service in the 
5 



66 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

operations of digestion. It is by far the largest gland in the 
whole body. 

The liver is situated in close contact with the riffht side 
of the diaphragm, and is divided into three lobes, with a 
color peculiar to itself. Its structure is also most peculiar. 
The bile is said to be secreted in small granules in this or- 
gan, called acine, from their resemblance to the stone of cer- 
tain small berries. But when the liver is cut open, we find 
every part of it filled with little tubes, from which exudes 
a thin, yellow fluid. This is evidently the bile, but, as yet, 
without the bitter qualities, which it probably acquires after- 
ward from the aciiie. In most animals the bile is stored 
away in a reservoir, called the gall-bladder, to be used as oc 
casion may require ; but the horse has no gall-bladder, so 
that the bile, as fast as it is formed, flows directly into tho 
small intestines. These it enters through the hepatic or bil- 
iary duct, a few inches below the pyloric orifice. (See a, in 
cut of intestines.) It is of the greatest importance in the 
work of digestion. The whole system sufters, if its secretion 
and flow are interrupted or retarded. Should they cease 
altogether, not only would the blood be poisoned by its re- 
tention, but the animal would presently starve for want of 
nourishment. 

This organ is much less subject to disease in the horse 
than in the other domestic animals, or in man. It is occa- 
sionally the scat of inflammation and some other afl'eetions, 
whose s3miptoms, however, are always obscure. Sometimes, 
where its functions are deranged, a condition is produced 
much resembling that of jaundice in the human being. This 
may be detected, without difliculty, by the yellow, pale color 
of the membrane lining the nose, and of the lips, the mouth, 
the tongue, and especially by the jaundiced appearance of 
the eyes. 

THE PANCREAS. 

This is a gland placed between the stomach and the left 
kidney, being what is commonly called the sweet-bread. It 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 67 

secretes the pancreatic fluid, which flows through its own duct 
into the small intestines through a valvular opening common 
to the hepatic and pancreatic ducts. (See g, in cut of the 
stomach.) In its uses, the pancreatic fluid is apparently sim- 
ilar to the saliva. It contains a large proportion of albumen 
and some free acid. 

THE SPLEEN. 

This organ, often called the melt, has no excretory duct, 
and, hence, can hardly be called a gland. It lies along the 
left side of the stomach, to which it adheres very closely. 
It is long; at one end broad and thick, and at the other 
tapering almost to a point. In color, it is of a bluish brown. 
It has a spongy consistency, being composed of numerous 
cells, over which are spread thousands of minute vessels. 
Physiologists have not been able to positively demonstrate 
the uses of this organ. It is believed, however, " to perform 
the oflice of a reservoir for the blood required by the stom- 
ach, with which it is closely connected by a set of vessels, 
and also to efi:ect some change in the blood itself." 

THE URINARY ORGANS. 

These embrace the kidneys and the bladder, with the dif- 
ferent ducts and passages that are connected with them. 

The kidneys secrete the urine. They are two glandular 
organs, whose function it is to rid the system of the element 
called urea, which is that principal constituent of the urine 
that, if not excreted, would act as a deadly poison in the 
blood. In the horse they are of immense size, and are sit- 
uated under the loins, the right kidney lying under the liver, 
and somewhat forward of the left, which is placed back of 
the stomach. Each of them is supplied with a large artery, 
which furnishes blood not only to the kidneys themselves, 
but likewise to all the urinary organs. Like all other glands, 
the kidneys abound in minute capillary vessels, where the 
functions of excretion are carried on. The amount as well 
as the quality of the urine which they secrete varies greatly, 



68 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

at different times, in all animals, but in the horse more, per 
haps, than in any other. As fast as it is collected in the 
kidnej's, the urine passes down to the bladder through the 
long excretory ducts, called the ureters, of which there is one 
for each kidney. 

The bladder is the oval membranous bag, which serves 
as a reservoir for the urine. Here it accumulates until its 
quantity begins to occasion inconvenience, when the animal, 
by a voluntary effort, expels it. Thus the great annoyance 
of a constant dribbling is prevented. The bladder has three 
coatings. The outer one is an extension of the peritoneum, 
but covering only a part of the bladder. Next to this, and 
upon the outside of the bladder for a great part of the lat- 
ter's surface, is the muscular coating, composed of two sets 
of muscles, crossing each other transversely, as in the intes- 
tines. The internal coating is the mucous membrane, which 
lines all the hollow viscera. The urethra has its origin at 
the neck of the bladder. It is the canal which carries off 
the urine. Its orifice can be entirely closed, at the horse's 
pleasure, by the contraction of the powerful muscle which 
surrounds the neck of the bladder. 

The urinary organs have a number of diseases. These 
will be fully described in the proper place. 

This completes all that our limits will permit us to pre- 
sent of the anatomy of the horse — all, indeed, that the purpose 
of our work requires. The reader who wishes to pursue this 
subject further, is referred to those highly scientific and valu- 
able works, Percival's "Anatomy of the Horse," and "The 
Horse in the Stable and the Field," by J. H. Walsh, (Stone- 
henge.) 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 



69 



CHAPTER III. 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 



BIG HEAD AND BIG JAW — EXOSTOSIS OF THE BONES. 

This disease has a very pe- 
culiar history. It is exclusively 
American. In Europe it ap- 
pears to be entirely unknown. 
The English and French writ- 
ers upon the horse have made 
no mention of it whatever, a 
circumstance which could 
hardl}' have occurred had the 
disease been known to them, 
or even to the ancients ; and 
of American authorities, 
though all must have been 
well aware of its existence, but 
tew have given it any atten- 
tion, probably from a want 
of knowledge of either its 
history or treatment, or, per- 
haps, of both. 

It prevails most extensively 
in the great Valley of the 
Mississippi — in the States of Tennessee, Arkansas, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. As we recede from the 
great river and its influences, it gradually diminishes ; yet 
isolated cases may be found throughout the country from 
the Eastern sea-board to the plains of the far West, and 
from the vicinity of the Ohio and the Potomac to the Gulf 
of Mexico. Its ravages appear to have been most of all 
dc?tructive in Western Tennessee, Northern Mississippi, and 




BIG HEAD. 



70 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Eastern Arkansas, where, at one time, it assumed the features 
of an epidemic. During the years from 1849 to 1858 the 
author traveled extensively through those sections, and also 
through iTorthern Alabama, for the purpose of gaining a 
more perfect knowledge of this disease, and, if possible, to 
discover its cause and cure. It was not uncommon to find, 
upon the smaller estates, from one to five horses and mules 
afflicted with big head in its worst forms, while the larger 
cotton plantations frequently presented the sad spectacle of 
twelve or fifteen utterly hopeless cases. 

At that period the most lamentable ignorance reigned 
every-where in regard to this disease — its nature, causes, 
and treatment. Its pathology was not understood by any 
one. A few modern horse doctors had published their views 
upon it in pamphlets, and two, perhaps, in book form. Carver 
and Mason had noticed it onl}' to pronounce it incurable ; yet 
each gave what he called a remedy, which, however, was found 
to be conceived in ignorance and born in cruelt3\ In no soli- 
tar}' instance was there any rational connection between the 
nature of the disease and the treatment applied to it. 

These works threw no light upon the subject, and furnished 
no clue to its intelligent study ; they only "darkened counsel," 
and made investigation more difficult and uncertain. To dis- 
cover the true nature and proper treatment of big head was, 
indeed, a herculean task. There were no books and no 
teachers, only the dreadful scourge and its operations; for 
the school, only the stable lots of the planters; no encour- 
agement pecuniarily, and little in any other way. The 
pathology of the disease was to be written, its diagnosis 
formed, and its materia medica collected and applied under 
the most unfavorable circumstances. Every-where the horse 
doctor was looked upon with the utmost odium, and his name 
regarded as only a synonym for imposition and low-bred 
ignorance. It would be impossible, at this period of time, to 
convey to the mind of the reader any adequate idea of the 
utter contempt and detestation in which the liorse doctor's 
profession was then commonly held. Every thing had to be 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. '71 

done, too, at the expense and trouble of the poor practitioner 
himself, on the terms of " no cure, no pay ;" and very often, 
indeed, it ivas no cure and no pay. Such were some of the 
difficulties which, at the outset, met the author of this work. 
At the very threshold of research, this terrible malady, big 
head, presented its most formidable front, and the curt lan- 
guage of the people of the country was commonly such as 
this: "Take that old horse with the big head, and try your 
hand on him. If you can cure him, you can cure any of them." 
But the work was entered upon with the determination to 
succeed in clearing up the mysteries enshrouding the subject, 
and, if possible, to discover some rational means of cure. 
That this was accomplished may now be seen, and thousands 
at the South will attest. 

Old horses are much more likely to be attacked by the 
disease than the young and vigorous, though no age or 
condition is wholly exempt. The sucking colt, the yearling, 
the two-3'ear old — in fact, all ages of both horses and males — 
may show the enlargement or protrusion of the frontal bone, 
which is the unmistakable feature of big head. Within the 
author's observation, though the bones of the head and ujDper 
jaw were frequently enlarged, there were no cases of bona fide 
big jaw among colts. The disease does not appear to aftect 
the colt to the same extent as the old horse; the general 
system is but little involved, and nature sometimes eftects a 
cure without other assistance. The mule, though less subject 
to it than the horse, often has the big head, but is always 
much more easily treated. The author recollects no case 
of the mule colt having it. 

It is a remarkable fact that the region of country best 
adapted to the culture of cotton is also that most favorable 
to the development of big head. The disease is the most de- 
structive in malarious districts, and, indeed, may be said to be 
almost entirely confined to them. The cotton plant attains 
its most perfect growth in precisely the same localities. 

In limestone regions it is much less frequent, even where all 
other predisposing agencies are the same. 



72 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

THE CAUSES OF BIG HEAD. 

The fact just stated points strongly to the conclusion that 
among the many causes which combine to produce big head, 
is the water found in the sections where it prevails, which is 
generally strongly impregnated with sulphur, iron, and other 
minerals. It is soft, such as is found in freestone formations, 
and entirely destitute of lime, a substance entering largely 
into the composition of the bones. The bones are composed 
mainly of phosphate of lime, a combination of lime and 
phosphorus. For the former, the horse is chiefly dependent 
upon the water which he drinks, his food supplying the latter. 
Fresh water does not furnish phosphorus, nor vegetation 
lime, except in very limited quantities. The lime contained 
in some water is not free, but exists in combination with 
other substances, and in such cases there will be an excess 
of phosphorus in the secretions above what is needed to 
supply materials for the growth and repair of the bones. 

"Water performs the ofiBce of a solvent in the digestive 
functions of the stomach. It softens the food into chyme, 
which, passing into the small intestines, there receives the 
gastric secretions of the hepatic and biliary ducts, and by 
their aid is still further digested. The nutritive particles 
are next extracted, and, in the form of chyle, are conveyed 
to the blood. Lime is mechanically combined with water, 
and, when it is free, unites readily in this process with the 
chyle, and with it is carried by the blood to the bones. 
Phosphorus is secreted from the food, and supplied to the 
bones in the same manner. 

The water in Western Tennessee, Northern Mississippi, 
and Eastern Arkansas is not only singularly devoid of lime, 
but is remarkable for containing so many other minerals. 
This condition of the water, however, can not be regarded 
as the sole cause of big head. In some parts of our coun- 
try, where there is still less lime in the water, the disease 
is well-nigh unknown, and, even in the sections named, 
many horses escape. But that it is, at least, a predisposing 
agency can not reasonably be doubted. 



DISEASES OF THE BONE. 73 

Another important consideration, in tracing out the causes 
which unite to produce big head, is the food which the horse 
eats. In grass-growing countries the disease is rare, and 
even in the infected districts horses seldom have it, if thej 
have access to good pastures. It is the same privilege which 
so largely protects the young colt, in most instances. The 
soil in those sections of the South which appear to be its 
principal theater of operations is very diy and sandy, bearing 
only a species of wire-grass in the early spring. Even this 
lasts but a few months, becoming so hard by July or August 
that stock refuse to eat it. At the South, unless there has 
been a great improvement in this department of plantation 
management within a very few years past, the horse is sel- 
dom allowed the benefit of even this poor grazing, but, when 
not in service, is usually kept in the stable, or a dry stable- 
lot. 

If a proper system of plantation management — of grooming 
and feeding — were adopted, the evil w^ould be overcome to 
a great extent. But corn, and corn-blades stripped from the 
stalk in the month of August and dried, constitute the prin- 
cipal food in the stables of the South. It is, — or at least was, 
during the author's residence in that region, — a common 
practice to feed nothing but these for months together, the 
horse, meanwhile, being kept at continuous hard labor. Corn 
is very heating in its tendency, and, as an exclusive diet, al- 
ways occasions more or less fever. It is to the horse what 
meat is to his driver ; a portion may be eaten beneficially, 
but if the diet fails to combine othei articles, derangement 
of the system and consequent illness must follow. A horse 
which lives exclusively upon corn feed is seldom entirely 
free from fever. 

'No common aliment is probably less favorable to the ani- 
mal health than corn fodder, at least as it is harvested at the 
South. It is very dry, always dusty, and, while possessing 
little substance, has a strong tendency to thicken and dry up 
the blood. The corn is often very much injured by rains, 
while standing in the field; in many cases the crop is not 



74 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

gathered until midwinter, and sometimes not even until spring 
It is no uncommon scene, in Tennessee and Mississippi, to 
find one set of hands gathering the corn in one-half of the 
field, -while in the other a second set are putting in the new 
crop. Corn that stands out a whole winter in this way must, 
of course, be greatly injured, becoming water-soaked, and 
some of it actually rotten. Not only that which falls down 
upon the wet ground is damaged ; but, of what remains stand- 
ing, the large or stump-end of the ears are generally much 
softened, if not decayed. The same is true of the fodder; 
most of it, by standing out in shocks, becomes damp and 
moldy. 

On such food two-thirds of the horses at the South are 
compelled to live, and, as a consequence, more than one-half 
of them suffer continually from fever. No wonder they 
have big head, and every other disease that horse-flesh is 
heir to ; the only marvel is that they are ever well, or, indeed, 
that they live at all. To feed them corn exclusively is bad 
enough, but when that corn is rotten, and is eked out by 
mold}^ fodder, the condition of the poor animals is deplorable. 

In connection with water and food, climate has, undoubt- 
edly, a powerful influence in developing big head. The fact 
that the scourge is almost entirely confined to malarious dis- 
tricts has been already stated. Cases may occur elsewhere^ 
but they are of rare occurrence, while, on the other hand, 
the stronger the malarious influence the more frequent is the 
disease. In Western Tennessee and Eastern Arkansas, por- 
tions of country well known for their unhealthfulness, it is 
most common and fatal, increasing as we approach the Mis- 
sissippi. The whole valley of that great river, from the mouth 
of the Ohio to the Gulf, is low, damp, and malarious. 

Nor must bad treatment be overlooked in enumerating the 
causes of big head. No one who has given the subject any 
attention can have failed to notice that the horse well cared 
for and kindly treated is much less likely to contract the 
disease than one ill-used. On many Southern plantations 
there are no stables; and on many others it was not uncom- 



DISEASES OF THE BOXES. 75 

mon, a few years ago, to find the horse in the pens which 
were called such, half-leg deep in mud and water, at mid- 
winter, and in summer standing upon great steaming piles 
of manure. lie was generally left in the sole charge of care- 
less negroes, who neither knew, nor cared to know, much 
about his wants or his health; and who, after working the 
fiiithful creature hard all day, and abusing him recklessly, 
thought their duty fully discharged, if at night they shut him 
up in these pens, to gorge himself from a trough-full of corn 
and fodder. And the practice was the same, without any re- 
ference to his condition or his health, whether he was sick 
or well, or whether overheated by violent exercise or not. 
Xor did the poor animal's ill-usage always end even with 
this. Often he was pressed into the service of some pilfering 
or trading expedition, conducted under cover of night ; rid- 
den at the top of his speed to the rendezvous ; tied to a tree 
in the woods, without any protection from the weather, no 
matter how cold ; and then, in the morning, galloped back, 
until he was steaming with perspiration, just in time to eat 
his corn and be driven out to work again. Such was the 
treatment of thousands of horses at the South fifteen or 
twenty years ago. Of course, disease did a fearful work 
among them. 

Succinctly presented, then, the agencies principally con- 
cerned in producing big head are bad water, improper feed- 
ing, malarious influences, and general ill-usage. Not all of 
these, it must be understood, are necessarily in active opera- 
tion at the same time. Horses have had the disease that 
were as well cared for as possible, and cases have occurred in 
sections where the water was good and abounded with lime. 
But neither horses nor mules, it is believed, ever sufi:ered 
from big head whose food was not largely made up of corn, 
and but few in localities entirely free from malaria. 

NATURE AND LOCATION OF THE DISEASE. 

Big head is a disease of the bones, beginning with an en- 
""iirgement of the bones of the head and jaw, and ending with 



76 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

general necrosis — that is, "death of the bones." Duiing its 
progress, the bones of the entire system, from a lack of ma- 
terial in the blood, gradually waste away, so that, after the 
death of its victims, they are frequently found to be no more 
than one-half, or even one-fourth, their usual thickness while 
in a healthy condition. They become mere shells, entirely 
destitute of marrow, and so brittle as to be easily broken by 
the pressure of the foot, or by a blow from the blade of a 
large pocket-knife. Before a fatal Germination has been 
reached, it sometimes occurs that the bones of the fore-legs, 
unable longer to bear the weight of the body, actually break 
between the knee and ankle-joint. 

As stated above, the disease first makes its appearance in 
the head and jaws; its immediate seat is in the marrow of 
the upper and lower jaw-bones, which become carious, or ul- 
cerated. When fever is present in the animal system, it al- 
ways has a strong tendency to locate in some member which 
discharges one of the vital, or at least important, functions, 
and which is, therefore, much in use. It follows from this 
that the part in most severe exercise is the one most of all 
likely to be afi'ected, and hence the development of this dis- 
ease at first in the head and jaws. The constant and severe 
exercise of grinding the hard, flinty corn irritates and inflames 
the teeth and gums, and it is in them and in the jaws that 
the fever in the system makes haste to establish itself. The 
marrow of the bones in the head is next attacked, changing 
to a thick and putrid yellow matter. The swelling of the 
head and jaws is an ulcerated enlargement of the bones, — 
simply an effort of nature to discharge this matter, and so 
to throw oft* the disease. As an evidence of this, a minute 
examination will show that the bones are filled with a tissue 
of little irregular cells, or cavities, and that the entire space 
occupied by the marrow is becoming of a scaly or spongy 
growth of bone. It is plain that a general destruction of the 
bony tissue is rapidly going forward. If its progress is not 
now arrested, this will spread through the whole body. In 
several cases examined after death by the author, the bones 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 77 

were all found in this condition. When the marrow is de- 
stroyed, necrosis takes place ; the bones die, and so does the 
horse. As might be expected, while the disease is running 
its fearful course, the poor sufferer becomes dreadfully emaci- 
ated. 

SYMPTOMS, ETC. 

It is extremely desirable so to describe the disease, and to 
point out its earliest peculiarities, as that all may be en- 
abled to discover it readily, and to protect themselves from 
imposition. This will not prove difficult. In its very first 
stages, big head may be easily detected by running the 
thumb up under the lip, beside the under jaw-bone, between 
the lip and the teeth. The side of the jaw should be 
nearly perpendicular with the teeth above. Should there 
be any enlargement, even as much as the eighth of an 
inch, let the farmer beware of that horse. Any swelling of 
the head or upper jaw he can see at the first careful glance. 
The nasal bone, which lies in a direct line from the eye to 
the nose, is the one that becomes misshapen and betrays 
the presence of the disease. 

The skin and muscles of the head become fixed, and will 
not move by pulling the lips. One of the surest indications 
of big head is a constant sleepiness while standing. 

As the disease progresses, the appearance of the poor vic- 
tim becomes pitiable in the extreme. He is gaunt and 
drawn up, his hind and forefeet almost together ; his head 
droops and water runs from his eyes; the hair is erect; the 
joints are stiff, and the skin is dry and hard, and seems very 
tight. His excrement, which is hard, black, and almost 
entirely destitute of moisture, is voided with great diffi- 
culty. 

As has been intimated, the disease in its first stages is 
not perceptible to the unpracticed eye. It then presents no 
external evidences by which it may be known, and hence 
many an amateur trader in horses and mules has been de- 
ceived. The unsuspecting owner soon finds that something 
is wrong; the horse is stifi*, and does not move with his 



78 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

accustomed vivacity and spirit. But his appetite is good 
Yery likely, indeed, be eats voraciously, and this only 
serves to allay suspicion. A horse with the big head con- 
tinues to eat until the last moment. When no longer able 
to raise his head from the earth, the poor creature, lying 
upon his side, as well as he can, begs for corn; and strange 
as it may appear, corn — one of the principal causes of the 
disease — is the only food he wants, and nothing else will 
he eat. 

TREATMENT. 

The object of this must be twofold : first, to dry up the 
humor in the jaws and head; and, second, to free the system 
from the general effects of the disease. This, of course, can 
be most easily done in the early stages, yet the disease may 
often be overcome when it has made considerable progress. 
It is worth a trial whenever a horse can raise himself to 
his feet. 

Bleeding is the first and indispensable thing to be done. 
The blood is very thick, almost black, and moves very 
sluggishly. The veins are congested — often dreadfully con- 
tracted. No medicines can be made to operate upon the 
system while the blood remains in this condition. The 
mucous absorbents of the intestines are nearly closed, and 
food passes onward through them undigested. While com- 
munication between the digestive organs and the blocd 
is so nearly cut off", it is folly to give medicines. Bleed- 
ing thins the blood, as well as decreases its quantity ; relaxes 
the system, and enables the absorbents concerned in the 
functions of nutrition to perform their proper offices. Medi- 
cines can now again reach the circulation and be carried 
to the extremities by the capillaries. The quantity of blood 
taken should be from two to four quarts, according to the 
character of the symptoms. In a bad case the bleeding 
should be repeated every sixth day, though ordinarily 
from two to four times, at intervals of ten days, will be 
enough. 

The bleeding having been performed, the practitioner 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 79 

should prepare about half a pint of corrosive liniment, 
first taking care to procure an earthen-ware cup into which 
to pour it. He should apply the liniment to the parts af- 
fected with a small mop, made by tying a piece of old 
cloth on the end of a stick. One table-spoonful on each 
side of the head and jaw will be a sufficient application, the 
liquid being always well shaken previously. The parts nmst 
be well wet with the liniment, which should then be thor- 
oughly dried in with a hot iron, held near the skin, but not 
touching it, as actual contact would not only needlessly 
torture the poor brute, but would destroy the effects of the 
remedy. The liniment should be applied in this way, every 
other day, six or eight times; or in a bad case, the treat- 
ment may be continued as long as is necessary, varied by 
omitting the application four or five days at a time in 
every fortnight. It is important to remember that the di- 
gestion of the horse, and not the condition of his head and 
jaws, is to be the guide in determining what degree of suc- 
cess attends these "efforts. 

The effects of the disease will be likely to linger in the 
system long after it has been checked in the parts where it 
chiefly manifests itself. To remove these effects will be 
slow work; but it must be done, or the disease will return 
again, in whicii case it will almost certainly prove fatal. To 
remove his stiffness, loosen his hide, and regulate his diges- 
tion the following simple prescription should be given: One 
table-spoonful of stramonia seed — that is, the seed of the 
"jimson weed," as it is commonly called; or of the thorn-ap- 
ple, as it is otherwise known — in some meal or bran, every 
other day, until three or four doses have been administered. 
It may then be omitted for two or three days. This medi- 
cation should be repeated so long as may be found neces- 
sary. 

Many persons, supposing the "jimson" seed to be poison- 
ous, are at first afraid to give it. There is not the least 
danger, however, in using it as above directed. It has a 
very happy effect upon the horse's system, and especially 



80 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

npon his digestion. His excrement, which before was black, 
liard, and dry, becomes soft, and of a healthy yellow ap- 
pearance. When this is accomplished, the patient is safe, 
and not until then, as this will not be the case until the 
disease is fairly broken. The use of the "jimson " seed 
will do more to free him from the general effects of big 
head than all the other medicine which can be given him. 
Hundreds have been cured by it where no other means 
were employed. 

The author recollects one remarkable case of this sort. 
Mr. Richard Cross, of Hardeman County, Tennessee, had 
two valuable horses nearly ruined with big head. He 
turned them into a cotton-gin lot, of two or three acres, 
where was growing a flourishing crop of "jimson" weeds, 
determined that they should eat this or starve. Pressed by 
the gnawings of hunger, the horses first nibbled away at the 
leaves, then fed upon the buds, and at last devoured stalks 
and all. Compassion finally drew his attention to these 
poor creatures, and to his astonishment he found them 
nearly well. When turned into the lot they could scarcely 
drag their feet over a rail, lying on the ground; but now 
the little negro who first informed him of their improve- 
ment, put the case emphatically in these words: "Massa, 
I tink ole Gray 'most well ; he kick up his heels." Years 
afterward the writer saw the same old gray horse, as well 
and fat as could be desired. 

In case the "jimson" seed can not be procured, a quarter 
of a pound of sulphur may be given daily, to the amount 
of three or four pounds. In connection with the sulphur, the 
horse should have an aloes pill every other day for a week ; 
but the "jimson" seed should be obtained, if possible. No 
other remedy can be absolutely depended upon, and it is prin- 
cipally to his reliance upon it that the author attributes his 
great success in curing big head at the South. 

The swelling of the head and jaws will disappear very 
gradually, and if it has been unusually great, the "bunches" 
will always show to some extent ; but it will become less and 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 81 

less observable each successive year, and, ordinarily, the 
muscles and tendons will so accommodate themselves to the 
new condition of things that, after a time, the enlargement 
can scarcely be detected. 

ITot less than ten thousand horses and mules, of which the 
author had knowledge, were cured by this treatment during 
the years from 1850 to 1858. The cure is radical. When i^. 
has once been effected, the horse is no more liable to the dis- 
ease than if he had never had it; nor will any ugly scars 
remain to proclaim that he was ever unsound. 

For the sake of convenience, a recapitulation of the treat- 
ment before laid down is here subjoined : 

1st Bleed from two to six times, at intervals of from six 
to ten days, according to the aggravation of the symptoms. 

2d. Apply the corrosive liniment every other day, as di- 
rected. 

3d. Give a table-spoonful of stramonia, or "jimson" seed, 
dailj^ with intervals of omission as specified, as long as may 
be necessary. 

4th. In the absence of the "jimson " seed, give proper dosea 
of sulphur, with the aloes pill. 

AFTER TREATMENT. 

This must be judicious and careful. Unless the object is to 
kill him, the horse should never be worked while convales- 
cing. "When the weather is bad, he should be kept in a 
warm, clean stable. If pasture is in season, he should be 
turned upon it during the day, but during cold rains, and 
on chilly nights, he must be brought into the stable. Should 
the weather be unusually damp or cold, he should be covered 
with a blanket. The little blood which a horse in this con- 
dition has is very thick, and he is much more sensitive to the 
cold than when in health. 

MODES OF TREATMENT FORMERLY PRACTICED. 

A brief sketch of the practices in use at the South for the 
cure of big head twenty years ago, can scarcely fail to inter- 
6 



82 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

est the reader. Some of these were barbarous in the extreme, 
and none had any aim beyond simply checking the swelling 
of the head and jaws. Of the condition of the general system, 
or of any remedy for ridding it of the dreadful efiects of the 
disease, absolutely nothing was known with certainty. One 
of the common, cruel modes of treatment occasionally proved 
partially successful, but generally they all alike failed. The 
process was called " putting back the big head ; " that is, 
when any thing was accomplished, which was possible only 
in the first stages of the disease. Few cases would remain 
" put back," and, most frequently, the animals fell victims to 
a subsequent attack. 

First in the horrible list of savageries may be mentioned 
the practice of burning or scalding with a horn filled with a 
hot mush, made of ashes and boiling water. A common cow's 
horn, filled with this mush, scalding hot, was applied to the 
parts immediately over the seat of the disease. The horse's 
head first being fastened so that he could not move it, the horn 
was held against it, until the skin and flesh were literally 
cooked, or sufficiently so to cause them to slough oft' quite 
to the bone in a few days. This treatment was sometimes 
efficacious in the incipient stages of the disorder, but always 
very much disfigured the poor animals subjected to it; often 
it killed them. 

An equally inhuman practice was to run a sharp, red-hot 
iron into the jaw, and entirely through the b'^ue. This would 
likewise check the disease in certain cases, but it produced 
a dreadfull}'^ oftensive, running eove, which never healed. The 
writer has seen many examples of this treatment, and once 
had two of its victims placed in his charge to experiment 
with, and, if possible, to cure, but nothing could be done 
for them. One was shot, as an act of mercy, and the other 
was given away. 

Another singular practice much in vogue was the extrac- 
tion of one or two of the large molars, or double-teeth, by 
means of a large pair of tongs, called "tooth-pullers," about 
three feet long, and in shape like a pair of blacksmith's 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 83 

tongs. Near the end was a shoulder, so arranged as to take 
hold of the teeth, which were thus wrenched out. This prac- 
tice appeared to " put back " the disease more frequently 
than any of the others, but the horse always suffered irrepar- 
able injury from the loss of his teeth, so necessary in grind- 
ing his food. The writer has seen at least five hundred horses 
with their teeth thus extracted, and while some of them were 
much improved, none were entirely well. They remained 
stiff and hide-bound, and with much impaired digestion. 

But the greatest enormit}^ was the use of arsenic. The 
plan wn.s to cut through the skin to the jaw-bone, insert a 
quantity of arsenic with a quill, and then close the wound. A 
dreadful inflammation and swelling was the inevitable result, 
the head sometimes becoming as large as a half-bushel. An 
abscess soon formed, terminating invariably in a running 
sore, offensive almost beyond endurance. It was no uncom- 
mon thing fur the flesh and skin to slough ofi", leaving the 
bone exposed, when only the utmost care could save the 
wret(hed animal from the maggot, the fly, and, at last, tiie 
merciful interposition of death. This remedy was, indeed, 
worse than the disease in its most aggravated form. 

Other equally revolting and barbarous systems of treatment 
were current, but, as these are fair examples of them all, it is 
not necessary to occupy further space in enlarging upon them. 

That these practices can be described mainly as things of 
the past, must be a source of deep thankfulness to every hu- 
mane person. They shocked and disgusted intelligent men, 
even when at their height; and, as the lesser choice of two 
evils, many horses were given over to die, without the exer- 
tion of any effort to prevent it. Still, no attempt was made 
to introduce a rational substitute, and hence the ignorant horse 
doctors of that period — or "butchers" as they were often 
called — had every thing their own way. The people every- 
where hailed with gladness the improved modes of treatment, 
and presented the author with many valuable "^okens of their 
appreciation and gratitude. 



84 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



SWINNEY, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE SHOULDER. 

It would puzzle the very wisest in horse lore to determine 
where the popular name of this disease originated, or why it 
was first used. It is utterly unknown to European writers, 
and has received scarcely any attention from American au- 
thors. A more proper designation would he inflammation 
of the shoulder, as will become apparent from a fuller de- 
scription. Swinney, or sweeny — commonly so called — is of 
frequent occurrence in all parts of the United States, but 
prevails more especially in the South-west, and perhaps most 
of all in the Valley of the Mississippi. 

Its cause may undoubtedly be traced to a very severe 
strain upon the top of the shoulder, sometimes even tearing 
loose the strong tendons which connect the scapula, or shoul- 
der-blade, with the back. In this case, the whole frame- 
work of the shoulder gives way, the scapula slips down some 
inches, and the top of the shoulder assumes a sharp and hol- 
lo^ appearance. This is known as slip-shoulder. When in 
health, the horse readily recovers from the effects of an or- 
dinary strain, with no further care than a little rest ; but if 
there is much tendency to fever in his system, such an acci- 
dent is very likely to produce swinney. • 

The immediate seat of the disease appears to be the peri- 
osteum, or membranous sheath investing the scapula. If the 
skin was affected, it would lie visible to the eye. Minute ex- 
amination, or at least dissection, would detect disease in the 
bones, if any existed, and an abscess or tamor would speed- 
ily reveal where the trouble lay, if it were in the muscular 
portion of the shoulder. There is no doubt, however, that 
the cartilages and tendons passing over and beneath the 
scapula are involved, in greater or less degree, as they often 
suffer great decay. 

There are two distinct stages of this disease, a fact which 
the horseman should fix in his mind by carefully studying 
each of them. The first stage is characterized by inflamma- 
tion and lameness, and is sometimes very difiicult to distin- 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 85 

guieh from certain diseases of the feet which usually accom- 
I>any it. Quite frequently the lameness is apparent in the 
legs and feet alone. The horse seldom stands equally upon 
both feet, but throws forward the limb upon the affected side 
to rest it, and his step is short and limping. There is great 
fever in the shoulder ; the flesh becomes hard ; the skin ad- 
heres to the bone so closely that it can with difficulty be 
moved at all ; the parts shrivel away, and the entire shoul- 
der has a hollow, shrunken appearance. The animal's un- 
willingness to lie down is a most characteristic symptom, the 
pain occasioned by the strain upon the muscles and tendons 
of the shoulder being greater tlian he is willing to undergo; 
and when, at length, compelled to do so by sheer exhaustion, 
there is no mistaking his suiferings and complainings. This 
circumstance alone infallibly discriminates between swinney 
and founder, as the foundered horse lies down with ease, and 
passes more than half his time in a recumbent position. 

The second stage is really the beginning of what farmers 
call big shoulder, a sad affliction, which will presently be 
spoken of under its own name. It is the sequel of long-con- 
tinued inflammation, or of unusually severe injuries. In this, 
the tendons that connect the scapula with the back — having 
been violently torn loose, or becoming relaxed from the 
weakening effects of disease — no longer keep the blade in its 
place, but permit it to drop downward. Disease extends not 
only to the scapula, but also to the humerus — properly the 
upper bone of the arm, but often called the lower one of the 
shoulder. The head of this bone begins to grow, and hyper- 
trophy adds a new complication to the case. The joint be- 
comes greatly enlarged, and from sheer weakness pitches for- 
ward, the muscles surrounding it waste away, and this part 
of the shoulder appears terribly misshapen. The most casual 
glance at the animal's disfigured condition now reveals but too 
plainly what has taken place. 

One feature of swinney deserves particular attention : that 
it is almost invariably accompanied by diseased feet. Of all 
the disorders which indirectly afl:ect the horse's foot, none do 



86 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

SO in greater degree than this. There is an intimate sympa 
thy between the shoulders and the feet, and the diseased con- 
dition of the latter has unquestionably much to do with 
aggravating the symptoms in the former. The hoof rot, es- 
pecially, is a most frequent adjunct of swinney, and requires 
direct treatment, as prescribed elsewhere. It will be exceed- 
ingly difUcult to reduce the inflammation in the shoulder 
while the feet are diseased, and a permanent cure, under these 
conditions, may be pronounced impossible. 

In the lirst stages, energetic treatment will be likely to re- 
store a young and vigorous horse to perfect soundness ; but 
the old or feeble can hardly be expected to entirely outgrow 
the effects of the disease. In the second stage, not much 
can be done in any case. The patient may be patched up, 
so as to serve for moderate labor a short time longer ; but he 
.will always be weak, sadly disfigured, and in an emergency 
utterly unreliable. 

TREATMENT. 

Whatever treatment is adopted, it is obvious that it should 
have for its object active and powerful counter-irritation. 
The prevailing inflammation must be brought to the surface. 
This the corrosive liniment will effectually do. It should be 
used daily for two or three days, being applied to the af- 
fected parts and thoroughly dried in with a hot iron, 
in the same manner as directed for big head and spavin. 
Let it be omitted for two or three days, and then employed 
again. This treatment must be kept up as long as may be 
necessary to effect a cure, which will generally be from two 
to four weeks. In order to loosen the skin, it should be 
rubbed and pulled with the hand every morning. This 
ought still to be practiced occasionally, and the parts kept 
well greased, after the liniment has been dispensed with. 

In most cases, it will be found beneficial to bleed 07ice, 
takiug from the neck-vein from two quarts to a gallon of 
blood, according to the symptoms. This will tend to pre 
vent the local fever from extending to the general system. 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 87 

If there is pasture to be had, let the horse be turned upon 
it. During cold weather or chilly rains he should be stabled, 
and fed on moist, relaxing diet. On no account let there be 
any thought of working him until he is quite 'well. 

FORMER MODES OF TREATMENT. 

These were all barbarous expedients to produce counter- 
irritation, the great desideratum in the treatment of swinney. 
One method was to stab the diseased parts a number of times 
with a large pegging-awl until they were full of little holes 
half an inch deep. Another was known as puffing. A quill 
was inserted into a small incision through the skin, and air 
blown in. This was pressed along through the cellular tis- 
sues with the hand, the skin being torn loose in the process, 
until the entire surface of the shoulder was puffed out like 
a full-blown bladder. A third practice consisted in burning 
the parts in a multitude of ways — with a hot iron, with 
scalding steam, with a hot mush of ashes, and the like. By 
these means the flesh was often literally cooked, and in 
time sloughed off" in a mass. 

BIG SHOULDER. 

As already stated, this is nothing more than an aggravated 
case of swinney. The flesh and tendons of the breast are 
affected, as well as those of the shoulder, and shrink away. 
The diseased growth of bone at the shoulder-joint continues 
to grow larger, and causes correspondingly-increased disfig- 
urement and helplessness. 

TREATMENT. 

This, of course, must be the same as for swinney. But a 
perfect cure is out of the question. True, the animal's suf- 
ferings may be relieved, and the disease, in a great measure, 
subdued ; yet, in the majority of instances, it will be found 
that his usefulness has been entirely destroyed. 

When the horse is in health, and in possession of his 
natural power, the position of the feet is about four inches 



88 AMERICAN FARMERS HORSE BOOK. 

ill front of a ptM-poiuUeular dropped from the shoulder. The 
sutlerer from this disease, however, in consequence of the 
pitohiiii;- forward of the shoukler, has his feet thrown back- 
ward nearly twice that distance, greatly to his detriment in 
moving, and with the loss of at least one-half his power. 

INFLAMMATION Oil SWINNKY OP THE HIP. 

This is much more rarely encountered than the correspond- 
ing disease in the shoulders, which it closely resembles in its 
general symptoms, particularly as regards the withering of 
the muscles, the attendant fever, and its accompaniment of 
diseased feet. From its comparative unfrequency, however, 
it is not as well understood. It has never been described, 
except recently, by a few American writers, 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment must be the same as for swinney in the 
shoulders, and seems much more efficacious. The corrosive 
liniment seldom fails to etiect a perfect cure. 

SLIPPED OK 15R0KKX HIP. 

It would appear as if nature had made ample provision for 
the protection of the hip-joint. The connection of the three 
bones of the haunch by powerful cartilages, which encase 
them on every side ; the locking of the head of the femur, 
or thigh-bone, into a deep socket, or cup, formed in the hip- 
bone to receive it, and the binding together of this entire 
arrangement by the strongest ligaments — these, it would 
seem, should prove sutKcient to defy almost every injury. 
Yet it is quite possible to subject the joint to concussions so 
violent as to produce dislocation. The head of the femur is 
wrenched from its socket, and the bone drops downward, 
giving to the hip a peculiarly slipped or broken appearance. 
Occasionally, the head of the femur is even fractured. This 
is treated of elsewhere, under its proper head. 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 89 



TREATMENT. 



Besides allowing absolute exemption from labor, not much 
can be done. One or two applications of corrosive liniment 
will assist in keeping down inflammation, and preventing 
lameness. The shape of the hips can never be restored. 

BONE SPAVIN. 

There are two kinds of spavin known to the farmer — bog 
and bone spavin. Of these, only the latter can properly be 
considered in this connection. The former is described in 
Chapter VIIT. 

Bone spavin Is an enlargement which appears upon the in- 
side of the hock, just below the joint. It is really a very 
formidable disease, usually ruining the horse entirely, if not 
promptly treated. In some instances it seems to do no ma- 
terial harm, although it is always a great deformity; while 
in' others the swelling assumes such enormous proportions 
that the joint becomes as large as a child's head, and so stiff* 
and lame that the horse can barely step at all. 

The joint, at the hock, has a middle bone — from its shape 
called the cube-bone — resting upon two others below it, of 
quite different shapes and sizes. Of these, the larger — de- 
nominated the shank-bone — is situated upon the outside of 
the leg. The smaller one, that upon the inside, is known as 
the splint-bone, on account of its thinness, and because, in 
its union with the shank-bone, it resembles a splint bound 
to a fractured limb. The head, of the splint-bone is quite 
porous, and much thicker, as well as softer, than the other 
portions of it, the bone increasing in solidity and strength 
toward the lower end. All the various parts of this compli- 
cated joint, in common with others throughout the entire 
frame-work of the body, are supplied with an oily fluid — or 
synovia, as anatomists term it — which serves as a lubricator 
to prevent friction and soreness from the movements of the 
tendons. It also performs an important office in nutrition, as 
the medium for transmitting the materials necessary to make 



90 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

good the wear and tear whicli the joint, from its severe labor, 
is continually undergoing. 

The primary cause of spavin is generally a blow, a strain, 
or some similar injury. From this results a feverish and un- 
healthy condition of the synovial membrane, so that its se- 
cretion changes into a thick, purulent matter, which Nature, 
true to herself, makes a determined eflbrt to discharge. Bu*; 
the membrane is so tongh and powerful that no outlet can 
be forced through it. The fluid settles down into the spongy 
bone below, and a diseased growth of the bone follows, form- 
ing a lump, or bunch, on the head of the inner splint bone. 
Subsequently, the weight and concussion thrown upon the 
parts, while in active motion, assist in extending the inflam- 
mation to all the cartilages incasing the joint. 

When only the splint-bone is ati'ected, as is fortunately the 
case in most instances, the knob, or bunch, is seldom very 
large, and often admits of a cure. Sometimes, however, the 
cube-bone, just above, becomes aflected also, and bony adhe- 
sions are formed between it and the splint-bone, just below. 
The joint then grows out of all shape, and the animal's lame- 
ness is pitiable to behold. For such a case there is no cure. 
Medicines can not even eflect any permanent improvement. 
The horse is ruined. 

TREATMENT. 

As for all aflections of this class, the corrosive liniment is 
the best remedy. It should be applied to the parts in the 
manner directed for big head. After using it daily for four 
or five days, let it be omitted for the same length of time, 
and then applied again. This treatment must be continued 
as long as may be necessary — a circumstance which will de- 
pend greatly upon such conditions as how long the swelling 
has been coming on, how large the bunch has become, and 
the degree of lameness. If the cube-bone is involved, it will 
be time thrown away to attempt any treatment. The best 
thing which can be done, will be to philosophically "accept 
the situation," and give up the case as hopeless. 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 91 

Another remedy for bone spavin, and one possessing con- 
siderable merit, is the mercurial salve. (See Chapter XXIV.) 
The parts over the spavin bunches should be anointed with 
this salve each morning, using either the finger or a small 
mop. It will be found best to dry it in with a hot iron. If 
the finger is used, it should be washed as soon as done, as the 
ointment may injure the nails. This remedy will require 
several weeks for its perfect action, and must be continued, 
with the same intervals of omission, as when the corrosive 
liniment is employed. 

No after-treatment will be needed, except good care gen- 
erally, and rest. 

The whole treatment of spavin is simple and plain, yet far 
from being always effectual. Upon no account let the owner 
suffer the chisel or mallet to be used for the removal of the 
knobs, or bunches; nor, if he la^'s any claim to human feel- 
ing, should he think of permitting such barbarous practices 
as burning with a red-hot iron, or with the horn and hot 
mush of ashes, nor of consenting to that most cruel savagery 
of all, the employment of arsenic. 

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES. 

Two examples, taken from a large number which occurred 
within the author's practice, will serve to illustrate the differ- 
ent stages of bone spavin. The first happened in 1852, and 
was that of a fine young mule belonging to Mr. Joseph 
Holiman, of Gibson County, Tennessee. The swelling was 
on the left hind leg, the lump being about half the size of a 
hen's egg. There was considerable soreness of the joint, 
attended with fever; otherwise, the animal was in excellent 
condition. Four ounces of the corrosive liniment were used. 
Treatment was continued about a month, the patient, mean- 
while, having perfect rest, after which he was turned out to 
pasture. At the end of another month he was put to light 
work, which was gradually increased in severity until he re- 
turned to all his old duties again. He never showed any 
signs of lameness afterward. 



92 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The other case was one in which the cube-bone was in- 
volved. The victim was a small, compact, sorrel mare — a 
most beautiful creature — for whom a friend had lately traded, 
in his over-confidence in the spavin remedy. The joint was 
at least three times its natural size. Although the corrosive 
liniment was applied thoroughly, and for a long time, it was 
without avail. The animal got no better, and, at last, the 
deceived and disappointed owner was glad to give her away. 

CAUTIONS. 

A horse is sometimes afiected with spavin while no bunch, 
or, at most, only a very small one, is visible. He steps lame 
when started after standing for some time; but, as he be- 
comes heated, the ligaments expand and accommodate them- 
selves perfectly to the swollen parts, his lameness passes 
away, and he moves as freely as ever. Traders, and espe- 
cially professional jockeys, improve this favorable time for 
disposing of such animals, and practicing upon the igno- 
rance of customers. The new horse is taken home. After 
standing in the stable over night, he comes forth the next 
morning very lame and stifi:', and great is the chagrin and 
consternation of the credulous purchaser to find that a spav- 
ined horse has been imposed upon him. 

To guard against such deception, the customer should feel 
the legs with particular care; and if the least unnatural en- 
largement, or any other suspicious indication, is apparent, let 
him insist upon seeing the horse in the morning, or at some 
other time, when he knows the animal has been standing for 
some hours. Another method is to ride the horse into water, 
letting him remain there long enough to cool off* thoroughly. 
If he is spavined, he will show it upon coming out, by the 
stiffness of the joints and a crippling gait. But the best and 
surest course, when there is any reason to suspect fraud, is 
to have nothing to do with the beast. Should the bargain 
seem too good to be lost upon mere suspicion, a trustworthy 
fi'iend may be consulted, or a guarantee required. 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 93 



ENLARGED HOCK. 



Notwithstanding the extraordinary provision which nature 
has made for the support and defense of the hock, this joint 
is very susceptible of injury, through the thoughtlessness or 
cruelty of man. A bruise or strain is very likely to be fol- 
lowed by inflammation and lameness. These may not prove 
permanent, a little rest sufiicing to set matters all right 
again. On the other hand, the enlargement may continue 
to increase, until it overspreads the entire joint. 

The horseman must be prepared to encounter two distinct 
forms of this disease. The first of these is when only the 
tendons and cartilages are aflected, in which stage the symp- 
toms will readily yield to a few applications of the corrosive 
liniment. The other form is that in which, from a severe 
blow or concussion, the bone is bruised, its investing mem- 
brane — the periosteum — is torn loose or terribly strained, and 
bony formations take place on the surface of the bone. This 
is a much graver condition of affairs than the other, and the 
owner may consider himself fortunate if he can succeed in 
removing it and restoring the horse to perfect soundness. 
Sometimes the parts enlarge to three times their natural size, 
with such stiffness of the joint that locomotion is painful 
and diflicult in the extreme. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment must be precisely the same as for spavin. 
The hot iron need not be used for drying in the liniment, 
except in cases of bony enlargement. 

The practitioner must bear in mind what has been inti- 
mated above; namely, that, while the horse may entirely re- 
cover from the cartilaginous inflammation, he can not reason- 
ably hope for great or lasting improvement, if there has 
been much bony growth. True, he can render essential serv- 
ice in checking the disease, and may even qualify the animal 
for nearly all the labors of the farm; but fr>r the road the 
horse is utterly valueless. A hard day's work, a severe strain, 



94 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 




or a bruise, may bring back the old 
trouble at any time. 



BROKEN HOCK. 



av^ The cap of the hock forming the 
outer part of the joint is much 
exposed to injury. It is occasionally 
broken through some extraordinary vi- 
olence. 

TREATMENT. 

For this there is no treatment but to 
lot the horse rest until the bone knits 
again. Use the corrosive liniment to 
remove soreness 

EXPLANATION OF THE CUT. 

The cut represents some of the prin- 
cipal causes of lameness in the fore-legs. 

a Enlargement of the joint of the elbow. 

b " Tying-in " of the leg below the knee. 

c The most frequent situation of splint. 

d An aggravated case of the enlargement ao- 

companying sprain of the back sinews, 
c The situation of wind-galls. 
/ The first appearance of ring-bone. 
(f The situation of sand-crack in the fore-leg. 

(See Chap. IV.) 
h The situation of what veterinarians call mal- 

lenders. 

RING-BONE. 

The coffin-bone, so-called, is properly 
the bone of the foot, occupying the space 
within the hoof (whence its name, the 
hoof being its coffin). With the suspen- 
sory ligament that surrounds it, and the 
horny substance of the hoof, it composes 
the foot. At its upper end, which is on a 
level with the top of the hoof, is the lower joint of the leg, 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 95 

called the coffin-joint. This bone is very soft, and filled 
with a multitude of little interstices, through which pass 
the blood-vessels of the feet. It is very subject to both dis- 
ease and external injury. 

When it receives the latter, the lubricating fluid, or syn- 
ovia, of the coffin-joint becomes diseased, and, settling down 
into the spongy bone below, a bony enlargement is the con- 
sequence. At once the foot begins to show a gradually-in- 
creasing lump, or bunch, at the point where the hair and 
hoof join. Its development is chiefly laterally, and thus it 
finally encircles the entire joint ; hence the term ring-bone. 

"What is known as club-foot is simply ring-bone at its 
worst stage. In this condition, the horse is nearly useless 
for general purposes, while the hope of a cure is so remote 
that he is hardly worth any pains at the practitioner's hands. 

TREATMENT. 

Ring-bone admits of a cure only in its earlier stages. Even 
then it is effected with difficulty, and can seldom be relied 
upon as permanent, as a strain or a contusion may bring 
back the affliction at any time. Still, there is always a fair 
prospect, at this period of the disease, that the horse may be 
made fit for some years of moderate service. 

The treatment must be the same as for spavin in every 
particular. Above all, the horse must have a long continu- 
ance of unbroken rest. 

STIFLE. 

'No joint in the horse's structure but is liable to strains, 
bruises, and similar hurts, and, although one of the strongest 
in his whole frame-work, the stifle-joint forms no exception 
to the general rule. It is sometimes badly wrenched, gener- 
ally from the leg becoming fastened or hung in a false posi- 
tion. Swelling, inflammation, and the most painful lameness 
succeed. In some parts of the country this is popularly called 
stifle, by which it is meant that the patella — the small bone 
of the joint, corresponding to the knee-pan in man — has been 
dislocated. 



96 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

This opinion ia assuredly erroneous. Dislocation may be 
regarded as an impossibility, unless the tendons which bind 
the joint together have been first either cut or torn apart. 
Were such displacement of the patella to occur, it is little 
likely that the animal would ever step upon that leg again. 
The writer has examined and treated a large number of 
horses said to be stilled, but in no single instance was he able 
to discover satisfactory evidence of dislocation. Swelling at 
the stifle-joint is exceedingly conspicuous; and from this cir- 
cumstance, together with the slow progress of the patient's 
recovery, the uninformed are deceived into the belief that 
there nuist have been some displacement. 

TRKATMENT. 

Counter-irritation is the only treatment which can be of 
the leaf^t benelit. To secure this, let the parts be well rubbed 
with the corrosive liniment, until it has been applied three 
or four times each alternate day. l\est and the reparative 
energies of nature will do the remainder. It may be months, 
perhaps, before the horse can be worked again ; but on this 
poitit, as in all similnr cases, the owner must be patient. 

Perhaps the joint never becomes as strong as it was before 
sustaining the injury. There is an equal doubt whether the 
animal is not more liable than formerly to the same disable- 
ment. Good grounds ibr hope do certaiidy exist, however; 
for not a few so-called "stifled" horses have been restored 
to unimpaired and pernument soundness. 

SPLINT. 

This is a bony enlargement upon the inner splint-bone, 
whence its name. In its origin, symptoms, and development 
it is nearly identical with bone spavin, from which it differs 
in no nuirked respect, except as regards location. This 
comes upon the sitle of the bono ; the other, at its head. It 
is, however, a much less formidable disorder than spavin. 
The enlargement seldom attains any great dimensions, and, 
in a large majority of cases, none of the important ligaments 



DIHKAHKS (»!'' 'rill'; liONKM. 97 

iiiii iiivdlvt'd. 1 1, iiHinilly occuih u|k)ii i\iv, Corn It'^^H, Iml, in 
HoiiictiiiK'H Ht'cii ii|)()M \\n<i hind oiiKH uIho — ill oitlior niHi\ upoii 
I Im iiiHidd, <»r (u»iirH(\ 

Splint iH ('11118(^1 hy a Mow or (^onlnnion, inonl. commonly 
jiv llic li(»iHn liiniHcir Hlrikin;^' IIhi Ki^ vvilli Mm o|i|)onil-(i liool", 
l>y wliicli mcunn tint |i(^rioHl,ciim \h injiin-d. Tint ollicct ol'lliiu 
mcndinind in to Ht^pnnilu tlio Hkin iind inidcrjyin^- (M^llidar 
lirtrtucH IVom tlio roii/^li Hiirriicd of I,1m> l)on(!, nnd, uIho, uh 
Im^Ioi-c Hlal,('<|, l,o iicl. iiH II. vcliicid lor llic nuhilion of (Ik; 
lal,l('r'H cnlirti HirncLiirci. TlidHd rnnd.ionH ii,i(( niMttuHHiirily dc- 
iiinL';<'d wlicn llm |Mii'ioHl<'nin in Hni-ioiiHly hrniHiMl, or '\h l.orn 
loom' IVoiii iln |)r<)|i('r i'oniicrl ion ; iind IIk^ liony HccrclioiiH — 
('onwiHlin;^' |>riniri|)idly ol" |ilioH|tli:il(' ol" jinuf, nnd which, in Hut 
nsilnrid arnin^cnicnt, nvii diHirilHilcd lliron^';lionl, IIm^ c<-,llnliir 
1 1sHiic wil liin I lie l»on<'M--)ir<! d»'|t(»Hil<'(| upon llic unrlncc, lorm 
inL', a liiniji ln-ncalii I he j'U in. HorcmiHH in occiiHion«id, iil (irwl, 
while Ihc imniliranc iii iiainlully Hlr<'l<'hcd l»y tint untniliii'ul 
cnlar^tnirnl, ol' Ihc Immic; hnl, Nalni'c HHnuliy ac(!ominodul,cH 
Ii( rMt'ir lo lint new ciindilioii ol' iiHiui'H, ho Ihal, in lime, Ihin 
cnl.ircly diHa]i|ieiir('. 

Occasionally, Hidinl hIiowm ilaeH' upon nonie pari ol' lh<i h^^ 
where il inltMlcrciH wilJi ii lart;'e Icndon, or il. may ap|>ciir 
iinme<|iale|y on Uic j<»int., in either of which can(u^, ol" lonrnti, 
il, caiiHcH lameneHH; olJKW'wiHe il doen hnl. iil.Lhi hurm, I'lirUior 
than ilH nn.si;.' hi lini'HH in ••om:ei'nc(|. 

'I'KKATMKNT. 

Allcr the iiorni! rciKtlicH Ihc a^i^c ol" nim; or I.en ye.ui'H, Hplinl 
ulmoHl invai'iiihly dinuppcurH no I'lir an io ho hai'dly noticiualilu, 
and, in moHl, inHlamuiH, il. imiy h«5 aH wfill l.o Id, il, a,lom\ IT 
licalinenl. it-i dcc-ldod lljioli, liow<!V«!)', Ihc corroi;iv<! linimcnl, 
MMiy 1k) apjjiiod two or Uiroo tiiiWH, an dii'ocl.cMl I'oi' njtavin, lo 
r<Mnov(! l.h(! HoroticHH and lainem^KH. 

MUOKKN KNKk'H — STWMUI-IN(J. 

Rlumhlin/^ can >io1. )»roperly ]n\ reckoned amon/^- 1.1m vicOH 
of 1,1m* horn(!, notwil.linl.an(iiiig moMt writci'H chtHHif'y il- an Hiich. 
7 



98 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

It is simply either the efiect of some disease of the shoulder 
or of the lower joint of the leg, or is a bad habit resulting 
from defective structure. 

In the latter case, the trouble arises from the feet being 
too nearly in line with the direction of the \eg. From the 
hoof to the upper pastern joint, the ankle should incline at 
an angle of about forty-five degrees. Sometimes, however, 
one meets with a horse whose ankle is stuck straight down 
into the top of the hoof, like a post in the ground, the hoof 
being erect and round like a cup. Such an animal is almost 
sure to be a noted stumbler. It would be folly, indeed, to 
buy or trade for him without first critically examining his 
knees, and making minute inquiries as to his habits. 

The habitual stumbler is not only slow and uncertain in 
his movements, but is really dangerous in nearly every ca 
pacity in which he can be used. If he is under the saddle, 
the rider runs a constant risk of being pitched over his head 
and carried home with a fractured limb or a broken neck. In 
the wagon, he is almost sure to fall while ascending the 
steepest hill, and when, of course, his services are most 
needed. 'Not content with simply breaking the shafts, when 
hitched to a buggy or carriage, he has the most exasperating 
fashion of going through with his peculiar evolutions in the 
midst of the largest crowd to be found in the whole day's 
travel, when one's feelings are most likely to be mortified by 
such awkwardness. To drive him by the side of a young or 
skittish horse would be almost sure to end in a runaway, from 
his companion's fright w^hen he falls down. 

There is but one place for the stumbler. That is in the 
plow. Here he can do no harm, if hitched up alone, or with 
an old or gentle horse. Beware of a stumbler. His possesssor 
is cheated, no matter how low the terms upon which he is 
purchased. 

SWAT-BACK. 

This is not a disease, but a deformity, produced by persons 
jumping upon the back of the young colt before it is strong 



DISEASES OF THE BONES. 99 

enough to bear such a weight, and thus bei.iing downward 
the soft, unformed bones of the vertebra, whose points are 
jiressed together above and strained apart below. The back 
is not broken, but terribly bent, and by the animal's growth 
is permanently fixed in this condition. Such a horse may 
be quite serviceable, and the back-bone seem but little 
weakened ; but he is never adapted for rapid motion of any 
kind, and his disfigurement is so marked as to detract mate- 
rially from his market value. 

For such a case no treatment is possible. ITature will do 
all that can be done. The foolish practice which causes 
sway-back should be discontinued altogether. It is early 
enough to begin riding the colt when he is nearing the close 
of his second year. At that age a small boy may be per- 
mitted to get upon his back carefully, but a full-grown man 
should not attempt to do this for several months later. 



100 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DISEASES OF THE FEET. 
ULCERATION OF THE FOOT; OR, NAVICULAR DISEASE. 

There is one species of lameness to which the horse ia 
subject that has puzzled the fanner and scientific practitioner 
not a little. Very little is known in relation to it, beyond 
its external developments. It is not very frequent, yet some- 
times occurs. The only wonder conceiving it is, that it is 
not found in much more frequent operation. 

The horse is discovered to be lame; but what tlie part is 
that is affected is the question with the owner. The trouble 
sometimes seems to be in the foot, and then again in the 
shoulder. At times the animal limps, as though pricked by 
a nail. After a while the lameness passes away so nearly that 
it is scarcely noticeable; but presently it returns worse than 
ever. All this time a disease has been establishing itself in 
the back part of the foot — the heel — which, if neglected, 
will ruin the horse entirely. This has been called the dis- 
ease of the navicular joint. 

There is a bone lying between the coffin-bone and lower 
pastern, which, extending some distance back of these, forms 
the projection of the heel, and rests upon the frog. It is 
denominated the shuttle or navicular bone, the latter name 
being given to it on account of its supposed resemblance in 
shape to the outline of a ship. Its use seems to be to im- 
part increased solidity to the connection between the coffin- 
bone and the joint above, and to enable the flexor tendon 
which passes over it, and is inserted into the bottom of the 
coffin-bone, to act with more power and pliancy in giving 
strength and motion to the foot. It forms a sort of joint 
with the tendon and other bone. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 



101 



The navicular bone and joint are liable to various injuries, 
and especially to strains and bruises. They are also very 
apt to become involved in all cases of injury to the frog, 
which is much exposed to accident. It is cut or bruised in 
traveling over stony roads. The careless smith frequently 
neglects to pare it off", and permits it to grow until it presses 
upon the ground; or else knows no better than to pare the 
hoof behind a great deal too much, by which species of mal- 
practice the heel is made to drop too low, and the unpro- 
tected frog thrust upon the ground. It is often wounded 
by sharp stones, points of frozen earth, and the like. 




A. Os Baffraginls. 

B. Os coronm. 

C. Os pedis. 

D. Os naviciilaro. 

E. Perfbrans and perforatus tendons. 
G. Inferior sesamoidal ligament. 



H. Cleft of frog. 

I. Side of frog cleft. 

J. Sole. 

K. Crust. 

L. Coronary substance. 



From these causes a settled disease of the joint is apt to 
be produced. Deep-seated ulcers occur, and the membrane 
and tendon are eaten away. An abscess is sometimes formed, 
which breaks, at length, and copious discharges of matter 
continue for a long time. "When this happens, the horse 
may recover, as this is the very end always to be sought in 



102 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK, 

any mode of treatment. Sucli cases, nevertheless, alwaya 
prove exceedingly obstinate. But in most instances the dis- 
ease takes an entirely different turn. No abscess is formed, 
but the navicular bone becomes diseased, and commences to 
decay; the hoof shrinks, the portions toward the back of 
the foot being drawn together; and now the horse suffers 
from w^hat farmers call " narrow heel." 

Still another fearful development of the disease may take 
place. In this the bone begins enlarging, the disease then 
assuming the same features as ring-bone and spavin. Adhe- 
sions between the bone and the lower pastern, and also with 
the coffin-bone, presently follow; and eventually the foot is 
ruined, when the horse, of course, is worthless. The final 
history of such a case, which is well worth tracing out, is 
about as follows: Enlargement of the bone goes on; the de- 
posits of bony matter upon the surface increases, and the 
three bones above named are consolidated, forming a soft 
and spongy mass of bony matter, which presses the hoof out 
in all directions. To such a size does this unnatural growth 
attain, that it often looks more like the head of a maul than 
any thing else. Hence the name club-foot, which applies to 
the incurable stages of this disease and of ring-bone alike. 
What horseman is there who is not familiar with this mon- 
strosity and its deplorable effects? 

TREATMENT. 

The whole philosophy of this is simply to produce an 
external development of the disease, by the formation of an 
abscess situated near enough to the surface to readily force 
an outlet for the discharge of its purulent matter. If this 
can be done, there is reason to be hopeful concerning the 
final result ; if otherwise, the horse is ruined forever. The 
most powerful counter-irritation will be necessary in the 
region of the heel and the entire back part of the foot. 
Too much can not well be done in this direction. An in- 
flammation must be occasioned upon the surface superior to 
that of the deep-seated disease of the joint and bone. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 103 

No remedy can be employed so efficient for this purpose 
as the corrosive liniment. In addition to producing a quick 
and active irritation, more powerful than any possible sub- 
stitute, its superior properties as a volatile, penetrating lini- 
ment make it just the remedy needed. If any thing can 
reach the seat of the disease, this will do it. 

Apply the liniment to the heel and back part of the foot, 
and also to the bottom of the latter and to the froer. Ex- 
amine carefully the bottom of the foot, to see whether it 
has begun to decay. If so, cut out as much as possible with 
a chisel or knife; after which apply the liniment freely, dry- 
ing it in well with a hot iron. The twitch must previously 
have been put upon the animal's nose, to make him stand 
still, and the medicine thoroughly heated. Make the appli- 
cation of the liniment every other day, and continue this 
course until the horse is well. When the ulcer breaks and 
matter begins discharging, you may feel assured that the 
disease is mastered. After this, a cure is only a question 
of time. 

Keep your horse in a cool, dry stable; or, if pasture is in 
season, let him run on the grass. During cold rains, be cer- 
tain to have him in the stable, and always keep him out 
of the wet while the liniment is being used. If his condi- 
tion is not good, bleed once, and give a pound of sulphur 
in a bran-mash, or in some boiled oats, or in his cut feed. 
Make four doses of the sulphur, and give one of them every 
second day. If he refuses this food, let him have nothing 
else until he does eat it. A little abstinence may be of ben- 
efit to him 

THIS DISEASE THE CAUSE OP MANY OTHERS. 

This disease is quite commonly the cause of many of the 
other affections of the feet. It has a great variety of de- 
velopments. AYe will mention some of the different diseases 
which may have their origin in this. One of these is ring- 
bone, in which the bone grows out in front. Foot evil ia 
another. In this there is a general oozing out of the dis- 



104 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

eased matter all around the top of the foot, through the 
coronary ring. Contraction of the hoof, or narrow heel, is 
usually the result of caries, or decay of the bones of this 
joint, the back portions of the hoof dropping in together. 
Thrush is but the beginning of foot evil, the purulent mat- 
ter collected at the joint escaping through the heel and frog 
of the foot. Greasy heel is a case of enlarged thrush, and 
often from the same causes. Hoof rot, or pummiced feet, 
often accompany navicular disease. Cracked hoof, or sand 
cracks, proceed from brittle hoofs, which this ailment produces. 
It must be understood that these diseases may have an 
origin independent of that which we are now considering ; 
but in a majority of cases they are found in connection with 
this joint disease, and in a large number of instances are 
produced by it. 

CRACKED HOOFS. 

This is otherwise called sand cracks, from the prevalent 
opinion that such cracks occur in sandy regions much oft- 
euer than elsewhere. Such is not the case, however. This 
belief has obtained from the fact that these cracks are lia- 
ble to become filled with sand, when they are always very 
troublesome. Of course, where there is no sand this cir- 
cumstance does not happen. Cases of tliis kind are com- 
paratively rare in this country, so much so, indeed, as 
scarcely to call for any mention here. 

Cracked hoof is consequent upon a long-standing diseased 
and feverish condition of the feet, from which causes the 
hoof becomes hard^ dry, and brittle, until, at length, it splits 
open. The elasticity and toughness of the healthy hoof are 
gone. Narrow heel is another cause of cracking, when fever 
has made the hoof hard and dry. The back of the heel drops 
in, which naturally occasions cracking in front. Hoof-rot 
produces the same efi'ect. The decay of the bottom of the 
feet is sometimes very great, leaving but a mere shell of the 
hoof, the sides of which have become very thin and brittle. 
When the horse has been kept shod for a long time, and the 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 105 

smith has neglected the necessary paring when removing the 
shoes, the hoof, especially during rapid motion, is very apt 
to split in the quarters. This generally takes place on the 
inside of the hind part of the foot. In this it differs from 
contraction, which, as we have seen, usually causes the crack 
to come in front. 

The fore-feet are more subject to cracks than the hind 
ones. Founder does tlie mischief here. It is the general 
cause of brittleness. Brittleness produces contrnction, land 
contraction splits the hoof. All these diseases often exist, 
and no crack occur. But hoofs thus diseased are much more 
liable to crack than others, and when cracks do take place 
in them, we may be certain their true causes are those here 
Indicated. 

Cracks in the front part of the hoof often extend to the 
top, or the coronary ring. They are not of uniform depth, 
sometimes penetrating only part way through the hoof. In 
this case, they do but little harm, and, with a good shoe, 
the horse will do excellent service for years, if used moder- 
ately. The only danger seems to be the liability of the crack 
to deepen to the sensitive part of the foot, when it inevitably 
causes lameness. When it is situated in the quarter, it seldom 
extends more than half way up the hoof, yet it ma}^ be deep 
and sore. 

TREATMENT. 

There is but little difficulty in effecting a cure, which is 
only a question of time. Remove the disease which is its 
cause, and the crack will readily heal over. The former, 
then, is the first thing to be accomplished, and when this is 
effected the crack will generally get well of itself. If the 
crack is in front, file off its edges nearly to the bottom. 
Then lay a narrow strip of canvas cloth, about an inch in 
width, lengthwise over it, and, outside of this, still another, 
covered with a thick coating of adhesive salve, or of pitch. 
Care should be taken that no sand or dirt is left in the crack, 
under the cloth. 

At the top of the crack, if it extends only part way up the 



106 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



foot, burn the hoof with a hot iron, from its top to the top 
of the crack, and on each side of the latter for the space of 
one-fourth of an inch. Burn the hoof to a crisp down to 
the live flesh, and should the crack seem inclined to split 
open when the horse steps, let the smith drive a nail through 
the bottom of the hoof, so as to rivet the divided parts to- 
o^ether. The nail should be clinched in the same manner as 
when driven through the shoe, and its head and point filed 
off Smooth. Sometimes it will be found best to use two nails — 
one at the bottom, and the other part way up the hoof. A 
small seam may be cut on each side of the crack to receive 
the upper one, and the nail driven through and clinched. 
Care should be taken that no dirt or sand be left in the crack, 
and then a coat of pitch spread over the entire opening. 



a The external crust seen at 
the quarter. 

b The coronary ring. 

c The little horny plates 
lining the crust. 

d The same continued over 
the bars. 

e e The two concave sur- 
faces of the inside of the 
horny frog. 

/ That which externally is 
the cleft of the frog. 

g The bars. 

h The rounded part of the 
heels, belonging to the frog. 




/ b 



This smaller cut exhibits, in as satisfactory a manner, the mechanism and 
structure of the base of the foot. 




a a The frog. 
b The sole. 
c c The bars. 
d d The crust. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 107 

This will prevent the split from extending higher up. A 
horse should never be used while suffering from cracked 
hoof, except for light purposes; and if the crack is through 
to the sensitive part, he should have entire rest until quite 
well. 

The time necessary to heal the crack will depend, of course, 
npon its extent and depth. The hoof will grow out a little 
more than half an inch per month. By simply measuring 
the length of the crack, any one can compute the length of 
time it will require to complete the cure. Meantime, if the 
adhesive cloths come off, put on others. In some cases it 
may be well to put on the shoe. In quarter cracks they 
should always be fastened together at the bottom with a nail 
or rivet. 

HOOF ROT. 

What is generally known as tender feet is one of the most 
common afHictions to which the horse is subject. No animal 
lias tender feet unless they are diseased or worn ofi'. When 
in a healthy condition, the hoof is very hard and tough, 
liaving a bluish or limestone color, and is admirably adapted 
by Nature to resist the injurious efiects of the severe con- 
cussions which the}^ necessarily undergo. Instead of the term 
" tender feet," it would be more correct and explicit to use 
that of " hoof rot." This is what the disease really is. By 
the operation of a kind of dry rot, which produces a feverish 
state of all the parts, the hoof and bottom of the foot decays 
or perishes away. The primary cause is a diseased condition 
of the feet and legs. 

Hoof rot is found in connection with spavin, ring-bone, 
swinney, foot evil, and often with the disease of the navicu- 
lar joint. It seldom fails to accompany chronic founder. 
While these diseases often occasion hoof rot, they, upon the 
other hand, are as frequently excited and brought on by it ; 
and, in a majority of cases, spavin, ring-bone, and foot evil 
would not occur were it not for this predisposing cause. 
When the spavin or coffin -joint is injured, the horse would. 



108 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

generally recover, in all probability, if the feverish influences 
arisinc: from the diseased condition of the feet were not so 
much against him, and which, constantly irritating and ex- 
citing the joint, finally settles upon it a permanent local dis- 
ease. Not unfrequently, however, the disorder has an exist- 
ence independent of any other, being the consequences of 
bruises or wounds which the foot sustains in traveling ovei 
hard, rough roads, or from their becoming worn off. Among 
other causes of the same nature, are such as permitting the 
shoe to remain on too long, or keeping the horse constantly 
shod, and compelling him to stand in a wet, unwholesome stable. 

SYMPTOMS. 

The disease may be recognized by the dry, chalky appear- 
ance of the bottom of the feet, which may be easily dug out 
with a knife or chisel. The frog of the foot is obviously di- 
minished in size, and the joints, especially the ankle-joint, 
become swollen, when the horse remains standing for any 
length of time. The steps are short and lame, indicating 
plainly the soreness of the feet, the affected member being 
put forward, and thus rested ; or, if both feet are diseased, 
the horse will advance first one foot and then the other. In 
most respects the symptoms resemble those of swinney, which 
hoof rot very commonly accompanies, and for which the in- 
experienced horseman is very apt to mistake it. 

TREATMENT. 

When the disease exists alone, the corrosive liniment will 
always effect a cure ; but in case it is only the result of an- 
other disorder, that must first be cured before commencing 
the direct treatment for this. 

Clean off the bottom of the feet, dig out the pumiced, 
chalky matter, and pare down the sides of the hoof and also 
the frog. Wash the bottom of the foot with the liniment 
each morning for three or four days in succession, always 
drying it in well with a hot iron. Omit the application for 
two days, and then continue as before. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 109 

This disease does not usually unfit the horse for moderate 
service, but care must be taken to keep him out of the wet 
while undergoing treatment. After a few weeks he may be 
safely returned to full duty, and shod, if necessary. 

CORNS. 

These are the great bugbears of the stable. Lameness in 
the feet forms such a common complaint among horses, that 
the stable-keeper can not evade the demand upon his 
fancied attainments in horse lore for the explanation of the 
phenomena in some way. It is, therefore, customary with 
many men, when any thing is the matter with the horse's 
foot which they are unable distinctly to account for, to get 
rid of the difficulty by pronouncing it to be corns. Some 
practitioners, by no means backward in claiming scientific 
proficiency, have made the same mistake, much to the detri- 
ment of their professional reputation. 

An instance of this was afforded in the spring of 1866, in 
the case of a beautiful trotting-mare, belonging to a gentle- 
man in Cincinnati. For a long time she had been under 
professional treatment for corns; and yet, when the writer 
was called to examine her, it was the task of but a few 
minutes to demonstrate the fact that she was suffering- 
from nothing less than the dreadful disease of the navicu- 
lar joint. 

"We have never found any affection of the horse's foot 
which could properly be termed corns, but have treated 
scores of cases exhibiting the peculiar condition of heat and 
soreness which is known as such. This is a redness and in- 
flammation of the bottoms of the hoofs, generally having its 
commencement in the quarters, on each side of the frog. It 
occurs oftener in the inside than on the outside quarter, and 
in the fore-feet than in the hinder ones. In all cases that we 
have examined, it is an accompaniment of hoof rot. The 
bottoms of the hoofs decay until the disease reaches the sen- 
sible portions of the foot, and the blood settles down in 
patches, ramifying in all directions in little lines, which give 



110 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

to the parts a peculiar blood-sliot appearance, and form what 
have been mistaken for corns. The latter name has no 
proper applicability, and seems to have been adopted simplj; 
because none better was known. At any rate, it is the off- 
spring of the prevalent ignorance concerning that condition 
of the feet just described. 

Corns, so called, are nothing more than the soreness caused 
by hoof rot — one development, or another edition, of that 
disease. They belong to the same family, and have the same 
pedigree, so to speak, as thrush, grease, foot evil, and narrow 
heel. 

A more serious result of this diseased condition of the foot 
sometimes occurs. The inflammation reaches within the 
horny sole of the hoof, and ulceration takes place there. The 
abscess tlius formed forces a vent, sometimes through the 
heel, but oftener through the coronary ring at the top of the 
hoof. Here the disease assumes different phases. Sometimes 
it runs into foot evil, and, extending entirely round the foot, 
brings the hoof off" altogether. "When the abscess bursts 
forth in the form of a running ulcer, it often rises and breaks 
a number of times, and may continue discharging for months. 

TREATMENT. 

As the state of the feet whence corns proceed originates 
from hoof- rot, the remedy must be the same as for that com- 
plaint. Cure hoof rot and the corn will disappear. If an 
abscess has not yet been formed, the corrosive liniment will 
right matters without difficulty. Remove the shoe, and pare 
the hoof down as far as can well be done. Pare down the 
frog, also, and dig out all the chalky, pumiced hoof; then 
apply the liniment to the heels and the bottoms of the feet, 
using a hot iron to dry it in thoroughly. Repeat the appli- 
cation five or six times; but it will not be necessary to use 
the hot iron more than once in drying it in at the heels, 
though at the bottoms several times. 

In the summer of 1866, the writer treated a case of corns 
in a horse belonging to Mr. Early, of Petersburg, Boone 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. HI 

County, Ky., which was one of the worst he ever «aw. The 
rotten, pumiced hoof was, at least, half an inch in thick- 
ness, and extending back over half the bottom were a number 
of angry-looking patches, while the sole, at each point of the 
quarters, was perfectly blood-shot. The case was fast hast- 
ening to the still worse determination of cracked heels, or 
grease. The leg was badly swollen as far up as the hock- 
joint. For this swelling, the animal had been under profes- 
sional treatment for some time previous, the real cause of 
lameness, situated in the foot, remaining entirely unsuspected. 
" After only three weeks' use of the corrosive liniment, the 
animal was nearly well, and the swelling hardly perceptible. 
A continuance ol the treatment in due time elFccted a per- 
fect cure. 

CONTRACTION OF THE HOOF, OR NARROW HEEL. 

In all parts of the country, there are numerous cases of con- 
traction of the hoof, or narrow heel, as it is popularly called. 
The shape of the hoof is nearly round when the foot is in its 
natural or healthy condition ; but sometimes the hoof be- 
comes elongated, the toe extending forward, and the parts 
toward the heel dropping in together. 

It is a prevalent opinion that contraction is the result of 
shoeing; but this is certainly a mistake, because otherwise 
the trouble must occur much oftener than it does. There is 
no reason why the same causes, operating in the same man- 
ner, should not more uniformly produce the same effects. jS^ot 
one in twenty that is kept constantly shod is ever troubled 
with contraction. This is not itself a disease, but merely the 
result of an unhealthy condition of the feet. 

So long as all the parts included within the hoof are in 
in their natural state, the hoof will remain natural and solid ; 
but let decay commence, no matter from w^hat cause origi- 
nating, and the parts shrink away, the sides of the hoof will 
fall in, and the whole foot seem misshapen. Narrow heel 
has just this history, and no other. The hoof often assumes 
great irregularity of outline. One side drops in more than the 



112 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

other ; the lower parts of the heel turn in, or, it may be, 
bend outward, or the toes are elongated beyond all propor- 
tion. In all these cases, the hoof is being burnt up with 
fever, and, like a crisped horn, twists about in a variety of 
shapes. 

TREATMENT. 

We know of nothing which can properly be called a 
remedy; contraction will cease when the disease that caused 
it has been cured. Paring may, perhaps, be of some advan- 
tage. Of all the forms of shoeing recommended, none are of 
any practical benefit. 

The horse's usefulness is not always essentially impaired 
by contraction of the hoof. Though incapacitated for rapid 
motion, he may still do very good work, perhaps, in the 
plow or wagon. 

INJURIES TO THE FROG. 

The frog is a part of the horse's foot peculiarly exposed to 
injury. From its location, it is continually brought into con- 
tact with many hard substances — sharp stones, or sticks, 
roots, nails, points of frozen earth, and the like. 

It is a soft, elastic substance, capable of considerable ex- 
pansion and contraction, and acts as a protection to the 
important bones and tendons of the heel — principally the 
shuttle, or navicular bone, and the flexor tendon, that gives 
motion to the foot. Upon the surface it is insensible, but, by 
paring it away, the sensible part is soon reached. It is the 
latter which receives the hurt from the sharp substances 
above referred to. Fever and soreness spread through the 
adjacent parts, terminating frequently in deep-seated and ob- 
stinate ulcers. Lameness may exist for some time before its 
location and cause are discovered. The frog should be kept 
well pared. Its natural appeai'ance is very much like that 
of India-rubber — dark brown in color, and without cavities, 
splits, or fissures of any kind. If any dark spots are de- 
tected in ihe horuy substance of it, it is an evidence of stone- 
bruise. ■ 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 113 

TREATMENT. 

The corrosive liniment will remove all traces of stone- 
hruise and similar injuries, and heal the sore and wounded 
partb. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE FEET, OR FOUNDER. 

Certain attacks of inflammation, which frequently make 
their appearance in the horse's feet, have received the name 
of founder, but for what reason it would be extremely diffi- 
cult to say, since there is not the least apparent connection 
between the term and that to which it is applied. 

The common theory among farmers is, that the horse be- 
comes foundered from over-eating, or from drinking too much 
water, the founder descending suddenly to the feet. The 
disease is known by a variety of names in different sections 
of the country ; for instance, water-founder, corn-founder, 
grass-founder, and others. As to a cure, these persons im- 
agine that the great object is attained if the founder can be 
restricted, and kept from settling down to the extremities of 
the limbs. 

In reality, however, the founder is not only in the feet al- 
ready, but has probably been established there for da^'s, or, 
perhaps, even for weeks. The sensible portion of the foot 
within the hoof, and the bones in the immediate vicinity — 
the coffin, pastern, and shuttle bones — are filled with little 
blood-vessels, which supply these parts with materials for 
their nutrition. The inflammation to which this region is 
subject is unusually acute in the case of founder, and is liable 
to be developed very suddenly. 

The real cause of founder, then, is the previously-diseased 
condition of the feet, which the horse's excessive eating and 
drinking does no more than to aggravate and bring into 
powerful action. As in all inflammation, swelling attends 
the fever and soreness, and the parts within the hoof become 
60 painful that the horse can hardly bear to step at all. In- 
flammation is next communicated to the hoof itself. It is 
8 



114 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

forced outward by the swelling within, and grows out of all 
symmetry, until the horse is completely ruined. "Who has 
not seen the dreadful results of founder in the wide-spreading 
hoof, the toe turned up, or elongated, sometimes even six or 
eio-ht inches, and the bottom of the foot flat and smooth? 

There are other circumstances that give rise to founder of 
more frequent operation, in many sections, than over-eating 
and drinking. The horse first overheated, and then allowed 
suddenly to cool ; or brought from the cold and wet into a 
warm stable, where his feet are enveloped in straw and hot 
dung : or ridden or driven very hard in the cold, and, after 
standing hitched to a post, fetlock-deep in mud, removed to 
a warm, close stable, a horse thus treated is a fine subject 
for founder. The feet are chilled in the cold, and heated in 
the stable, and it would be surprising if they could continue 
long to' stand such usage. If fairly treated, and not other- 
wise diseased, the horse will never have the founder. 

One disease of the feet, generally occurring in the fore- 
feet, is so commonly found associated with founder, that it 
is difiicult not to believe that it is the principal cause of 
the mischief. In hundreds of cases of founder examined by 
the writer, there was not one entirely free from hoof rot. 
In most cases this had been working for weeks, or even 
months, before. The evil consequences of this condition of 
the feet have been greatly overlooked. 

To sum up the matter, we record it as our opinion that, 
if the feet of the horse are not previously diseased, and 
Lave not been bruised or otherwise injured, there will be no 
founder; that what is known as founder is only a very high 
and sudden rise of inflammation in the feet from a disease 
already existing there ; that hoof rot is the cause of chronic 
founder, or established inflammation of the feet, and nine- 
tenths of all the cases of founder which occur ; and that 
many a lameness in the horse, which receives no attention 
from the owner, is an evidence of the existence of disease, 
which may develop into chronic founder under any one of 
a variety of unfavorable circumstances to which the animal 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 115 

is frequently exposed, not to mention the evils following 
the unnatural shape and enlargement of the foot. 

SYMPTOMS. 

These are variable. Sometimes they are well marked, the 
horse indicating the nature of his sutferings with unmistake- 
able plainness; but not unfrequently they are so obscure as 
to be mistaken or entirely overlooked. The first noticeable 
sign is the horse's restlessness and the frequent shiftings of 
the fore-feet. The pulse is quick and hard, the nostrils have 
a red and florid appearance, and the horse indicates his con- 
dition of extreme suflfering by an anxious, woe-begone look, 
with repeated or heavy grunts. He does not stand long 
upon his feet, and yet can not lie down in the natural man- 
ner; but, after making several eftbrts to do so, he will rise 
up, turn round, change his position, and then resume his 
feints of lying down. Sometimes these eftbrts wnll be re- 
peated three or four times before he accomplishes his object, 
which he finally does by dropping to the ground like a log. 
The stillness with which he lies upon his side is proof at once 
that the attack is not one of colic ; while his changed look 
of relief and comparative ease declares, as plainly as words 
could, what his disorder really is. After a time he rises 
upon his haunches, to get up, but, overcome w^ith the pain 
in his fore-feet which the eftbrt occasions, he suddenly 
drops upon his side again. Putting his head around to the 
feet, he rests his nose upon them, as if to point out the seat 
of his acute pain, and to plead, as well as he can, for some 
relief. 

TREATMENT. 

Bleed in the neck vein, without delay, as soon as the ani- 
mal's condition is discovered. Let the blood run freely, 
taking at least a gallon of it. The object of this is to draw 
away the blood from the overloaded blood-vessels of the 
feet. Many object to bleeding in the neck, as being too re- 
mote from the seat of the disease. Experience, however, is 



116 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

a safe teacher, and one not easily misunderstood. Hundreds 
of cases, within the personal knowledge of the author alone, 
have fully tested the great benefits of this practice. We 
are satisfied that the desirable results of bleeding depends, 
not so much on the quantity of blood taken, as upon its 
determination in another direction. Hence it is quite in 
the natural order of things that the feet should be relieved 
by this bleeding. 

The bleeding having been attended to, have prepared a 
kettle of hot salt and water. Drench him with a quart of 
this liquid, as hot as he can bear it, and next bathe his feet 
and legs with it. Rub these well with a rough cloth or 
brush. Make this application three or four times in the 
course of an hour, and after this, as soon as the feet have 
become dr}^ wet the parts just at the edge of the hair with 
the corrosive liniment, or, in the absence of this, use tur- 
pentine. Do not attempt to work the animal until he is 
entirely well. Feed lightly on bran-mash, boiled oats, cut 
feed, or a little scalded meal. If pasture is accessible, how^- 
ever, he need have no other food. Not only is this the best 
diet for him, but it is Nature's own medicine; and in fine 
weather, the cool, moist ground will act as an excellent poul- 
tice to his feet. In stormy weather, the horse, with this or 
any other disease, should be kept in a good, dry stable. 

Having happily got the founder under control, you had 
now better set to work to cure his feet entirely, or, in all 
probability, the disease will return presentl}:^ in a worse 
form than before. Hoof rot is what you now have to com- 
bat, and must be treated directly as prescribed for that 
complaint. 

For an old-standing or chronic case of founder give the 
following: One pound of the flour of sulphur, one-fourth 
of a pound of cream of tartar, the same of saltpeter, and 
half a pint of pulverized "jimson" seed. Make six doses 
of this, and give one of them each day until they are all 
gone. At the same time, there must be energetic treatment 
of the feet, using the corrosive liniment as elsewhere directed. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 117 

Another remedy for founder, which comes to us from high 
authority, is to split open with a sharp knife the little point, 
or knot, in the long hair at the back of the fetlock. This 
is said to afford almost instantaneous relief. 

There is probably but one other disease (colic) with which 
the horse is so commonly affected as with founder. More 
poor, thriftless, shadowy horses may be found lingering 
along, in constant suffering from chronic founder, than from 
all other causes combined. The disease may be cured, if 
taken in season, and old standing cases may be greatly re- 
lieved ; but there always remains more or less predisposi- 
tion to the old trouble. A young and vigorous animal is 
likely to pretty nearly outgrow the disease, but there is 
much less hopes for this when an old horse is taken with it. 



118 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER y. 

DISEASES OF THE GLANDS AND NASAL [MEMBRANES. 
BLIND STAGGERS. 

Blind staggers 'proper is peculiar to the Southern States 
lu the form iu which it there exists, it is not found north of 
the latitude of thirty-six. What is known by that name in 
the Northern States and in Europe is not properly blind 
staggers, and is attended with but few of the dreadful symp- 
toms of the disease as it manifests itself in the South. In 
the North, and in Europe, numerous aftectious of the horse 
that produce sleepiness or giddiness — most forms of vertigo 
and slight attacks of apoplexy — are all vaguely termed stag- 
gers. It is true that these often cause a staggering gait ; but 
they are accompanied by none of the other characteristic 
symptoms of blind staggers. 

We are satisfied that neither the people of the Northern 
States, nor even the best informed writers on the horse, have 
any knowledge of this dreadful scourge of the cotton States, 
where, in former years, it prevailed to a terrible extent. At 
one period — from 1848 to 1854 — its ravages were especially 
destructive, and became really fearful to contemplate. Cer- 
tain sections of the country were nearly depopulated of the 
working stock, and, what was worse, they were sections where 
the people were the least able to bear the loss. It broke out 
much more frequently on new plantations, where the ground 
had been under cultivation but a short time, than in the older 
and more cultivated districts. 

During the long residence of the author at the South, much 
time was spent in the careful study of this disease, and nearly 
all parts of the cotton States were visited, for the purpose of 
firatherino: facts in relation to its manifestations in different 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 119 

sections. These investigations were necessarily pursued with- 
out much light or aid from others. The best descriptions 
given of it by recognized authorities in veterinary science, 
fell far below the dreadful developments of the malady as 
they were presented to the author's observation almost daiiy. 
The people in the regions where it prevailed had gained a 
partial knowledge of its real cause and location ; but their 
modes of treatment were barbarous in the extreme, and by 
no means effective. Authors disagreed among themselves in 
not a few points of the most essential character, and hardly 
one of theJii ev6n approximated to a true description of the 
blind staggers of the South. The name staggers had a va- 
riety of vague and perplexing applications in their accounts. 
Some spoke of the disease as heart staggers ; others described 
stomach staggers, brain staggers, sleepy staggers, and mad 
staggers, each reasoning from effect rather than cause. 

Several writers have advanced the opinion that the disease 
is caused by the horse eating the spiders' webs on the grass, 
in the morning, when wet with dew. Unfortunately for this 
theory, however, horses that are kept in the stable are found 
to be more subject to it than those which run in pasture. 
Besides this, in some parts of Mississippi, where its ravages 
have been as bad as in any part of the whole South, there 
are no such spiders' webs. Still further, it frequently rages 
in the winter, when there is neither grass in the pastures, 
nor spiders to spread their webs iipou it. 

Equally absurd is the theory that a disease of so dreadful 
a type — extending its ravages over almost one-half of our 
country, well-nigh equaling in extent, as also in malignity, 
that dreadful scourge cholera, attacking not onh' horses, 
mules, jacks, and even hogs alike, but those of all ages and 
conditions — is the result of over-eating, of a diseased stomach. 

The various theories advanced by different authors seem to 
us to be but lame attempts to explain what they do not un- 
derstand. The people of the affected localities, we found, 
had gained some knowledge of the cause of the disease, and 
the parts particularly affected; and this knowledge was of 



120 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

essential service to the author in determining its correct pa 
thology. As before intimated, however, the modes of treat- 
ment then in practice were equally barbarous with those ap- 
plied to big head and fistula, and scarcely more effective than 
they. The term " l)lind staggers" was suggestive, and prop- 
erly applied; for it indicates two effects of the disease, and 
points to its true pathology. 

We found that a very general opinion prevailed among the 
people of the affected districts that staggers was, in some 
way, connected with the horse's eating the corn grown upon 
land that had just been cleared. Its ravages were the greatest 
about the time of gathering such corn, and at those seasons 
when it was fed in the greatest quantity. These circum- 
stances induced us to examine it, to ascertain, if possible, 
whether any connection really existed between the eating of 
such corn and the developme?its of the disease. We found 
that corn grown upon new land is ver^^ apt to be badly eaten 
by a species of greenish-yellow worm, which leaves upon it 
a dust, or excrement, of a very poisonous nature. Corn 
grown upon old ground is often very considerably injured 
from the same cause, but to a much less extent. As an evi- 
dence of the poisonous qualities of this worm-dust, if a plas- 
ter, made by mixing it with vinegar, be placed upon the back 
of the hand, it will raise a blister in a short time. 

To us it seems perfectly clear that the stomach has nothing 
to do with the disease, except sympathetically. We shall be 
compelled to look to some other source for its origin. This 
we believe to be the effects of the worm-dust upon the corn, 
but operating in an entirely different way from that which 
the people of the South were accustomed to imagine. 

There is a little orifice in the nostril of the horse, situated 
upon the back part of it, and about an inch from the outlet. 
In size it varies somewhat in different horses, but is usually 
about an eighth of an inch in diameter. This little opening — 
witti several smaller ones, which may be found higher up 
the nose — is the outlet of the lacrymal duct (lacrymal mean- 
ing tears), which is the tube, or passage, that drains the 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 121 

water from the eyes. All the animals of the higher types of 
organism have an organ answering this purpose. Nature 
supplies to all these a watery secretion, to wash the eye and 
keep it moist, and when this Huid has performed its oihce, it 
passes off through this little duct into the nose. In the horse 
and the mule, the lacrymal tube has its outlet into the nose 
situated much lower down than in any other animal, and, in 
the former especially, may be seen very plainly. 

When the horse eats the worm-eaten corn we have de- 
scribed, he snuffs the excrementory dust upon it up his nose, 
and it sometimes lodges in these little openings. Its poison- 
ous qualities cause them to swell and fester, from which they 
shortly become closed, so that the w^ater from the eyes can 
not be discharged. These ducts communicate with the nasal 
cavities of the head, which, in like manner, become tilled 
with the poisonous retained water. They remain not long 
in this condition before disease and inflammation set in ; the 
surrounding parts are next involved ; finally, the optic nerve — 
the nerve of the eye — becomes affected, and at once blindness 
and staggering begin. The brain and the whole head par- 
take of the rapidly-spreading derangement, and presently 
the stomach also, with the entire line of the intestinal canal. 
Tile dreadful virus affects every vital organ, and nearly every 
part of the body. It is a strange and peculiar poison, equally 
so in its nature and effect. 

That climate and a variety of unfavorable circumstances, 
may greatly aggravate the disease, is undoubted. We are 
fully satisfied, however, that blind staggers arises from an 
inflamed condition of the optic nerve of the eye, the inflam- 
mation being produced by the worm excrement, which finds 
its way into the nose, as already stated, and which differs 
materially from any commonly found upon the corn further 
north. 

!N^umerous examinations of the optic nerve, made imme- 
diately after death from this disease, showed it to be in a 
dreadfully inflamed condition, and already exhibiting signs 
of decomposition. No traces of disease were discovered in 



122 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE B(X)K. 

the coatings or humors of the eye. These were all perfect 
and natural, as in health ; but that portion of the brain nearest 
to, and in immediate connection with, the nerve was much 
inflamed, and patches or lines of red extended in all direc- 
tions from the point whence the nerve proceeded, showing 
that inflammation had reached this region also. Here, un- 
doubtedly, was the final cause of death. Collections of slimy, 
yellow water had gathered upon this portion of the brain. 
Similar evidences of decomposition were apparent here. The 
inflammation developed by this malady is of a peculiar char- 
acter. It is the eftect of a poison carried directly to the 
braiu. 

Sometimes there is stoppage of the lacrymal ducts upon 
only one side of the head, and then the inflammation, for a 
time, will be confined to that side. Such a horse becomes 
entirely blind in the eye on the aflected side, and partially 
so, through sympathy, on the other. In this condition he 
follows the imperfect sight of this eye, which is placed at a 
considerable angle with the direction of the body, and he con- 
tinues to turn round and round. As he moves forward, the 
angle of direction is constantly changing inward, and he de- 
scribes a circle whose diameter is about six,ty feet. Around 
this circle he pursues his unstead}' march as long as he is able 
to walk. It is an invariable peculiarity of this form of the 
disease that the poor creature is always in motion. J^ot only 
is he nearly always blind, but deaf also. There is no question 
as to his blindness in one eye. You may go up to him on 
that side, and put 3^our hand on his head, before he appears 
to know it; and then he jumps and springs away, with every 
sign of alarm. If approached upon the other side, he con- 
tinues to sheer ofl', just as a horse always does that is par- 
tially blind. We have seen many a circular path, traced hy 
the sufferer from blind staggers, that was beaten almost as 
hard as the foot-paths of a horse-mill. If interrupted in his 
rounds, he changes his direction merely, strikes out a differ- 
ent circle, and in it moves forward as before. 

Occasionally a spasm or fit comes on, when he staggers, 



DISEASES OF THE GLAIsDS. 123 

pitches, and reels like a drunken man. The length of time 
which these spasms continue varies from twenty minutes to 
an hour, or sometimes even two hours. Occurring, at first, 
no oftener perhaps than once a day, they rapidly increase 
in frequency and severity. As his end draws near, the horse 
is only out of one fit into another. The terrible sufterings 
of the poor creature in these paroxysms of agony are beyond 
description. He stamps and paw^s with his fore-feet, rears 
upon his hind legs, and, falling backwards, sometimes kills 
himself instantl}' by the dislocation of his neck. If he falls 
upon his side, he tiirows his feet rapidly about, and beats 
the ground with his head in the most violent manner. 
I^ow, quick as he is able, he springs to his feet, ou]y to go 
through with the same wild actions again. He does not 
always fall to the ground, but sometimes reels and staggers 
about, strikes out with his feet, and thus makes it danger- 
ous to be near him. All at once he starts off on a run, as 
fast as he can go. Bringing up against a tree, a fence, or 
the side of a house, he is knocked flat to the earth, and, if 
his legs or neck are not broken, he is sadly cut and bruised 
at least. 

All this time his groanings and complainings continue 
distressing in the extreme. Only at intervals does he seem 
to be rational ; then he appears to recognize his keeper, and 
it is really painful to hear how piteously he begs for assist- 
ance. During the subsidence of the spasm, his breathing 
comes thick and fast. It is not only very rapid, but con- 
strained, so that his sides puff in and out like a pair of bel- 
lows. Finally the spasm spends its force, and passes off, 
and, for a time, he rests in comparative ease. If on his 
side, he remains lying there for a long time, as still as death. 
Very commonly the spasm seems to pass off instantly, and, 
if on his feet, he remains standing, with his head drooping, 
and eyes closed, as though he were asleep. After a time he 
rouses again, and resumes his motions in a circle. 

When both sides are affected alike, (which is often the 
case,) the horse becomes entirely blind in both eyes, and 



124 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

stands, trembling and shaking, with his head down, and hib 
eyes closed, as if asleep. In this state he remains until a 
spasm comes on. Then he runs and pitches about in a man- 
ner more terrible, if possible, than that already described — 
his nostrils distended, his breath so short and thick as nearly 
to produce convulsions of the sides. Such is the dreadful 
excitement now raging, that it almost appears as if his whole 
body was about to be torn to pieces. When the spasm passes 
off, he lapses into the sleepy, torpid, trembling condition, 
which has been called sleepy staggers. 

In this phase of the disease, the horse seems utterly indis- 
posed to movement of any kind, except while frenzied from 
his fearful spasms. It is a question whether he is in posses- 
sion of his proper faculties at all. When the disease mani- 
fests itself in this form, it soon runs its course, and death 
speedily puts an end to the poor creature's suffering. 

Sometimes the horse shows signs of this disease for several 
days, and, in other cases, for only a few hours. But the 
origin of the trouble always dates back some time, perhaps 
even weeks previous, although it may never have been sus- 
pected until its violent symptoms were fully declared. 

THE OLD MODES OF TREATMENT. 

The methods of treatment formerly in vogue at the South, 
although tainted by extreme cruelty and shocking violence, 
furnish a strong argument in substantiation of the views we 
have put forward in regard to the causes of blind staggers, 
A sM, unwelcome experience had taught the people some 
valuable lessons concerning the disease. One of these was 
that its seat was in the head. 

In order to make the treatment correspond with this hy- 
pothesis, it was a common practice to cut a place in the skin, 
about an inch long, over the region of the brain ; then to 
insert some poisonous substance, and close the wound over 
again. By producing a rapidly-running sore, this course, 
notwithstanding the torture it occasioned, sometimes gave 
• relief. 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 125 

Another method was to drive a chisel through tne frontal 
hone, just below the region of the hrain, and let the accnmn- 
latiou of purulent fluid run out. This sometimes succeeded, 
and from two to three pints of 3^ellow and quite offensive 
water were thus discharged. J3ut, although sometimes suc- 
cessful, this operation was attended with great danger. The 
shock of bursting the skull-bone killed the horse oftener 
than the treatment saved him. 

Boring with a gimlet was tried as a substitute for the 
chisel, but this, likewise, proved extremely hazardous. The 
wedge-like action of the gimlet commonly split the skull 
and killed the horse. 

One great difficulty in treating the staggers was found to be 
the horse's extreme restlessness, amounting frequently to per- 
fect frenzy. This was much aggravated b}- the harshness of 
these processes. It was generally impossible to operate upon 
the animal without throwing him to the ground. The fall, 
and his subsequent strugglings, sometimes killed him. Even 
in those stages of the disorder in which he was drooping, and 
perfectly still when unmolested, as soon as touched he grew 
perfectly excited, or even furious. 

The practice of these different methods proves clearly 
enough that the people generally understood that the dis- 
eased water from the eyes had somehow accumulated within 
the head, and was the cause of the mischief, and that, if it 
could be drawn off in time, the horse might be saved. With 
this idea was connected the belief, as already stated, that the 
worm-eaten corn was in some way — they hardly knew how — 
instrumental in developing the disorder. 

PREVENTIVES. 

" An ounce of prevention," says the old proverb, " is worth 
a pound of cure." This is emphatically true in regard to 
the staggers. 

Horses and colts that run constantly in pasture are not 
troubled with the disease. Let the stable-fed horse have a 
diet from which corn is excluded, and he will be almost 



12G AMERICAN FARMERS HORSE BOOK. 

equally exempt. Of two farmers, in the same neigbborliood 
where the disease prevails extensivel}^, let one carefully brush 
oft' the worm-dust from the corn before feeding it to his 
horses, and the other neglect this precaution. The former 
Avill be in little danger of any trouble with blind staggers 
among his stock, while the latter stands a good chance of 
having to sustain heavy losses from it. 

These facts plainly indicate one highly-important means 
of prevention. If the farmer must feed worm-eaten corn to 
his horses, he should be at pains first to brush off the poison- 
ous dust. It would be still better if he could get corn alto- 
gether free from it. 

Good, strong wood ashes, kept in the trough or manger, 
Irave been used with excellent results, as a preventive remedy. 
Still more certain and eflicacious, when it is employed in the 
same manner, are the eftects of tobacco, especially if the finer 
portions of it shell oft' in the manger. The tobacco, in fact, 
had better be made fine before placing it in the feeding-place. 
The fine dust of these substances increases the secretions, so 
as to keep the lacrymal ducts open. 

It will be well to watch for the premonitory symptoms of 
the disease, such as the horse drooping his head; sudden 
starts, as if struck with a whip; the pulse very rapid, and hot; 
and great heat about the head, in the region of the brain, as 
well as the frontal bone, just below the eyes. More marked 
indications accompany the further development of the disease. 
When the horse is in health, a rap upon the cranium gives 
forth a hollow sound ; but now the sound is dull and heavy, 
much as when a cup filled with water is struck. The little 
openings into the nostrils, which we have described, should 
show no signs of obstruction, nor of any discharge other than 
the clear-looking water from the eyes. But now the openings 
appear nearly or quite stopped up, and discharge more or less 
matter; the nostrils are covered with scabs, and much swol- 
len, and the back parts of them appear very red and angry. 
When these symptoms are exhibited, the owner may be sure 
that blind staggers, in its worst stages, is at no great distance. 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 127 

The nose sliould be examined frequently, to detect the first 
indications of any such evil omens. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment is as simple as its philosophy is obvious. 
If the disease has its origin in a stoppage of the lacrynial 
tubes and the nasal cavities of the head, and the collection 
in them of that diseased, poisonous fluid which is secreted by 
their inflamed surfaces, it is reasonable to suppose that, to 
reopen those tubes, and to draw ofi' that fluid, will give re- 
lief. Such is really the case ; and if these important opera- 
tions can be successfully accomplished, there need be little 
fear in regard to the animal's ultimate recovery. The inflam- 
matory and other general consequences of the disease may 
be removed by proper treatment. 

The chief difliculty is to do any thing at all. In many in- 
stances, the disease makes such rapid headway before it is 
discovered, that the case is hopeless from the outset. It is 
very dilEficult, too, to keep the suft'erer still for a sufiicient 
length of time to permit proper treatment. Even when this 
can be done, the remedy often proves ineffectual, so dread- 
fully inflamed and swollen have the ducts become, and so 
great the accumulation of the mattery fluid within them, 
which the prevailing fever often changes into a thick and 
almost solid substance. 

But to describe the treatment. Bleed the horse in the 
neck vein as long as he can bear it. Then give a drench, as 
follows: A half-pound of Epsom salts in a pint of warm 
water, to which add a gill of moderately-strong tobacco juice. 
This will make the animal very sick, and one who uses it for 
the first time is likely to think the horse is about to die. But, 
although his eyes become glassy, and he reels, and sometimes 
falls to the ground, there is much less danger in giving such a 
mixture to a horse than to a human being. It will not kill him, 
but afibrds nearly the only chance for prosecuting the treat- 
ment to a perfect cure ; for, as soon as it takes elFect, he becomes 
quiet, so that you may handle your patient as you please. 



128 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Before the effects of this meclicuie pass off, give him two 
ounces of laudanum in a little warm water. Do not fail in 
this, if it can possibly be done. The great object now is to 
prevent the return of another spasm, by getting him com- 
pletely under the influence of an anodyne. 

Next, procure a stick, about two feet in length, and make 
a soft swab on the end of it. Tie the swab on securely, and 
let the cloth extend over the end of the stick. The string 
should be long enough to hang down to the other end of the 
stick, so that you can hold it in your hand, and then, if the 
cloth should happen to come off while the swab is being 
used, you will still have hold of it. Dip the swab into some 
weak tobacco-juice, quite warm, and run it up the horse's 
nose. Repeat this carefully a few times, and then wash out 
the whole nostril thoroughly with the little mop. This will 
open the ducts, and let the water collected in them run out. 
Whenever a free discharge from the nose can be effected, the 
horse is out of present danger, and, if the treatment is car- 
ried out, will presently get well. The foul, watery secretions 
will sometimes drip from the nostrils in almost a stream, for 
a day or more. In a few cases, the writer has known strings 
of tough, nearly solid matter, two or three inches in length, 
to be forced from the outlet of the duets, after which the 
water would commence running from them freely. 

The final step is to induce a speedy and powerful counter- 
action, to prevent inflammation from reaching the brain; or, 
if it already exists in that organ, to reduce it. What is done 
for this purpose must be done quickly. The symptoms of 
the disease will not wait for the slow action of ordinary rem- 
edies. A blister must be raised immediately over the region 
of the brain. To do this most quickly, wet the skin with 
the corrosive liniment, or, in the absence of this, with tur- 
pentine. Over this lay an old piece of cloth, two or three 
folds in thickness, and apply on the outside a hot smoothing- 
iron. Hold it there until a blister is drawn. 

One bleeding will nearly always be sufiicient ; but the rest 
of the treatment it may be necessary to repeat a number of 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 120 

times, through several days. There may be no need, per- 
haps, of giving the drench of tobacco-juice more than once 
or twice. Of the laudanum, an ounce will often be enough 
to produce the desired eftects, after the first day. 

If the horse will eat at all, feed light, and give no corn. 
Green grass is the best food. For several weeks, keep him 
perfectly quiet. 

When the brain has become seriously involved, it is too 
late. Death will soon relieve the practitioner of all his la- 
bors, and the patient of his suffering. There is but one sure 
indication of the abatement of the disease, and that is, the 
running at the nose. In this disease, no positive assurance 
of saving life can be given. All efforts will often fail, and, 
still oftener, no remedy can be used at all. Hence, the im- 
portance of prevention by one of the methods we have de- 
scribed. 

RECAPITULATION OF TREATMENT. 

1st. Bleed as long as the horse can bear it. 
2d. Give the drench of tobacco-juice, with the salts. 
3d. Swab out the nostrils to open the ducts. 
4th. Raise a blister over the region of the brain. 

GLANDERS. 

Although not usually classed as such by veterinar}^ au- 
thors, this is really just what its name implies — a disease of 
the glands. The lymphatic and nasal glands in the head 
are the ones particularly aflected ; and here the disease, in 
its early stages, may often exist for months, or possibly for 
years, entirely unsuspected. From them first proceed the 
glanderous discharges from the nose, which afterward ulcer- 
ate the lining membrane of the nostril. Hence the reason 
of our departure from nearly all antecedents in respect to 
the classification of this disease. 

Glanders is indeed an awful malady, dreadfully contagious, 
and when fully developed, nearly incurable. There are three 
stages of it, as will be explained presently. Only in the first, 
9 



130 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

and sometimes in the second of these, does the disease admit 
of a cure at all ; but, unfortunately, it is most frequently 
overlooked, or else entirely misunderstood, until it is too 
late. It is only when the scourge assumes its most malig- 
nant type that the owner or keeper becomes aware of its 
existence; and even then he is too often unwilling to ac- 
knowledge its presence, until forced to do so by the spread 
of the contagion, and other signs too plain to be disregarded. 

Happily, this pest of European countries — this curse of 
English stables — seldom occurs in our rural districts. In 
this country it is almost exclusively confined to cities, with 
their crowded stables, and large numbers of horses herded 
together. 

In tracing the history of any considerable number of cases, 
infection will be found at the root of the trouble much more 
frequently than any other circumstance. But there are sev- 
eral causes which may generate the disease, where contagion 
has never been possible. In such cases it is invariably the 
offspring of filth and mismanagement. The hot-beds where 
it usually develops itself, and best thrives, are our cavalry 
corrals, and other places where large droves of horses are 
crowded together, close and ill- ventilated stables, and those 
in low and damp situations. Among the many causes ol 
glanders, however, none are so fruitful as impure air, and 
unwholesome food and water — of all which the horse is 
likely to get the most in the places we have named. Any 
one of these may be sufficient, at times, to give existence to 
this terrible disease ; yet, after all, the majority of cases are 
undoubtedly the result of infection communicated from one 
horse to another. 

The opportunities for infection are always very great. In 
large stables, where strange horses are constantly coming 
and going, it is a wonder that it occurs no oftener than it 
does. The degree of exemption which they enjoy can only 
be attributed to their greatly improved construction and man- 
agement. The ventilation, good order, and cleanliness which 
characterize the large majority of them are truly commend- 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 131 

able, and no less so the caution and care manifested by their 
managers in regard to food and water^ These, together with 
the attention bestowed upon washing and cleaning the horse, 
and removing filth from near the stall, have made this loath- 
some disease comparatively rare in even our city stables. 
During the last half century, there has been a more marked 
improvement in the home of the horse than even in that of 
man. 

Yet infection may take place from circumstances against 
which no caution or foresight can fully guard. The traveler 
comes along with a fine-looking horse, entirely ignorant that 
any thing is wrong with him, although, in reality, he is 
glandered. He is put in the stable, eats from the manger, 
drinks from the common bucket or water-tub, and departs, 
leaving behind the dreadful infection, which may be im- 
parted to every horse that eats or drinks at the same place. 
Possibly all do not take it, however; for such is the power 
of healthful E"ature to resist disease, that many horses have 
escaped, even when exposed to this contagion, which is more 
readily communicated than any other known. 

But why is such an animal admitted to the stable, or al- 
lowed to associate with others in any manner? One reason 
we have intimated; namely, ignorance on the part of his 
keeper concerning his real condition. In the case above 
supposed, he is received by some attendant, led to a stall, 
fed, and watered, without the most cursory examination, or 
a single thought of his being diseased. Even if any exam- 
ination is made, it is not a little difficult for any but the 
most experienced to distinguish between glanders and some 
other aifections which occasion running at the nose. Often, 
too, the discharge is so inconsiderable, and so much like the 
common water from the eye, that it runs on for months entirely 
unsuspected, meantime scattering its mischief in all directions. 

The most scientific practitioner is sometimes puzzled in dis- 
criminating between glanders and some other affections of the 
head. It is of the utmost importance, however, that this be 
done correctly; and in this, the decision must usually be made 



132 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

by the farmer himself. We shall, therefore, not only de 
scribe the disease, as it has come under our own observation, 
as accurately as possible, but shall not hesitate to avail our- 
selves of the experience of others, to the end that the reader, 
by having all the light which the best writers have been able 
to cast upon the subject, may be so fully informed as to be 
enabled to detect the disease in every form, and to guard 
against it in every possible manner. 

There are three stages of glanders, as manifested in the 
discharge from the nostrils. In the first of these, the dis- 
charge so much resembles that which attends other nasal 
afiections, and even the health}' secretions which moisten 
the eyes, that the disease is not recognized, but passes on to 
the second, and perhaps even the third stage, before the 
owner awakens to a realization of the dreadful enemy which 
confronts him. 

Two peculiarities distinguish the first stage as glanders. 
The first is, that the discharges are of a more sticky char- 
acter than any others ; the second is, that the discharge, in 
nearly all cases, is confined to one nostril, and that the left. 
Why this is so has never been satisfactorily explained. We 
only know the fact. Occasionally, however, the right nos- 
tril is the one affected, but rarely both nostrils at the outset. 

A thickening and increased flow characterizes the dis- 
charge in the second stage. Its consistence becomes more 
mucous and sticky, and its color changes from an almost 
transparent clearness to a whitish tinge, bordering upon yel- 
low. In many cases it drips from the nose in long, stringy 
clots. The membrane of the nose shows a pallid or leaden 
hue, and ulcers sometimes make their appearance high up 
in the nostril. 

The third and last stage is usually slow in its develop- 
ment, and, from the concurrent testimony of all reputable 
authorities, must be regarded as incurable. In this, the dis- 
charges are greatly thickened, its mucous consistency and 
stickiness proportionately increased, its color considerably 
darker and yellower, and frequently it is flecked with blood. 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 133 

As has been already stated, glanders is a foreign rather 
than an American disease. Where one case occurs in the 
United States, there are, at least, two or three in England 
and France In fact, our continent has never been devas- 
tated by contagious affections, among either man or beast, 
to the same extent as the Old World. Opportunities for in- 
vestigating this disease, and tracing out its history and vari- 
ous developments, have been much more abundant in Europe 
than in this country. 

In this connection, we must acknowledge our indebted- 
ness to Mr. Youatt's excellent treatise upon the English 
horse. For the benefit of the reader, we introduce the fol- 
lowing extract from that deservedly-esteemed work, and are 
satisfied that, notwithstanding its great length, occasional 
inaccuracies, and despairing conclusions, he will fully appre- 
ciate the fidelity and research which it displays. Its descrip- 
tions give it great value : 

" The earliest symptom of glanders is an increased dis- 
charge from the nostril, small in quantity, constantly flowing, 
of an aqueous character, and a little mucus mingling with it. 

" The discharge of glanders is not sticky when it may be 
first recognized. It is an aqueous or mucous, but small and 
constant discharge, and is thus distinguished from catarrh, 
or nasal gleet, or any other defluxion from the nostril. It 
should be impressed on the mind of every horseman that 
this small and constant defluxion, overlooked by the groom 
and by the owner, and too often by the veterinary surgeon, 
is a most suspicious circumstance. 

" If a horse is in the highest condition, yet has this small 
constant aqueous discharge, and especially from one nostril, 
no time should be lost in separating him from his compan- 
ions. No harm will be done by this, although the defluxion 
should not ultimately betray lurking mischief of a worse 
character. 

" The peculiar viscidity and gluiuess, which is generally sup- 
posed to distinguish the discharge of glanders from all other 
mucous and prevalent secretions, belongs to the second stage 



134 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

of the disease, and, for many months before this, glanders 
may have existed in an insidious and highly-contagious form. 
It must be acknowledged, however, that, in the majority of 
cases, some degree of stickiness does characterize the dis- 
charge of glanders from a very early period. 

" It is a singular circumstance, for which no satisfactory 
account has yet been given, that when one nostril alone is 
attacked, it is, in a great majority of cases, the near, or left. 
M. Dupuy, the director of the veterinary school at Toulouse, 
gives a very singular account of this. He says that out of 
eighty cases of glanders, that came under his notice, only one 
was affected in the right nostril. The difference in the af- 
fected nostril does not exist to so great an extent in Great 
Britain ; but, in two horses out of three, or three out of four, 
the discharge is from the left nostril. 

"This discharge, in cases of infection, may continue, and 
in so slight a degree as to be scarcely perceptible for many 
months, or even two or three years, unattended b}^ any other 
disease, even ulceration of the nostril, and yet the horse be- 
ing decidedly glandered from the beginning, and capable of 
propagating the malady. In process of time, how^ever, pus 
mingles with the discharge, and then another and' a charac- 
teristic symptom appears. Some of this is absorbed, and the 
neighboring glands become affected. If there is discharge 
from both nostrils, the glands within the under jaw will be 
on both sides enlarged. If the discharge is from one nostril 
only, the swelled gland will be found on that side alone. 
Glanders, however, will frequently exist at an early stage 
without these swelled glands, and some other diseases, as 
catarrh, will produce them. Then we must look out for 
some peculiarity about these glands, and we shall readily find 
it. The swelling may be at first somewhat large and dif- 
fused, but the surrounding enlargement soon goes off, and 
one or two small distinct glands remain ; and they are not 
in the center of the channel, but adhere closely to the jaw 
on the affected side. 

" The membrane of the nose should now be examined, 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 135 

and will materially guide our opinion. It will either be of 
a dark, purplish hue, or almost of a leaden color, or of any 
shade between the two ; or if there is some of the redness 
of inflammation, it will have a purple tinge ; but these will 
never be the faint pink blush of health, or the intense and 
vivid red of inflammation. Spots of ulceration will proba- 
bly appear on the membrane covering the cartilage of the 
nose — not mere sore places, or streaks of abrasion, and quite 
superficial, but small ulcers, usually approaching to a circu- 
lar form, deep, and with the edges abrupt and prominent. 
When these appearances are observed, there can be no doubt 
about the matter. Care should be taken, however, to ascer- 
tain that those ulcers do actually exist, for spots of mucus, 
adhering to the membrane, have been more than once taken 
for them. The finger should, if possible, be passed over the 
supposed ulcer, in order to determine whether it can be 
wiped away ; and it should be recollected, as was hinted 
when describing the duct that conveys the tears to the nose, 
that the orifice of that duct, just within the nostril, and on 
the inner side of it, has been mistaken for a cancerous ulcer. 
This orifice is on the continuation of the common skin 
of the muzzle, which runs a little way up the nostril, while 
the ulcer of glanders is on the proper membrane of the nose 
above. The line of separation between the two is evident 
on the slightest inspection. 

" When ulcers begin to appear on the membrane of the 
nose, the constitution of the horse is soon evidently afiected. 
The patient loses flesh ; his belly is tucked up ; his coat is 
unthrifty, and readily coming ofi:"; the appetite is impaired ; 
the strength fails ; cough, more or less urgent, may be heard ; 
the discharge from the nose will increase in quantity; it will 
be discolored, bloody, and oftensive to the smell ; the ulcers 
in the nose will become larger and more numerous, and, the 
air-passages being obstructed, a grating, choking noise will 
be heard at every act of breathing. There is now a peculiar 
tenderness about the forehead. The membrane lining the 
frontal sinuses is inflamed and ulcerated, and the integumenft 



130 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

of the forehead becomes thickened, aud somewhat swelled. 
Farcy is now superadded to glanders, or glanders has degen- 
erated into farcy, and more of the absorbents are involved. 

"At or before this time, little tumors appear about the 
muscles, face, and neck, following the course of the veins and 
the absorbents, for they run side by side, and these the tumors 
soon ulcerate. Tumors, or buds, still pursuing the path of 
the absorbents, soon appear on the inside of the thighs. They 
are connected together by a corded substance. This is the 
inflamed and enlarged 13'mphatic, and ulceration quickly 
follows the appearance of these buds. The deeper-seated 
absorbents are next affected ; and one or both of the hind 
legs swell to a great size, and become stiff, hot, and tender. 
The loss of flesh and strength is more marked every day. 
The membrane of the nose becomes of a dirty, livid color. 
The membrane of the mouth is strangely pallid. The eye is 
iu'liltrated with a yellow fluid, and the discharge from the 
nose becomes more profuse, and insutierably offensive. The 
animal presents one mass of putrefaction, and, at last, dies 
exhausted. 

" The enlargement of the submaxillary glands, as connected 
with this disease, may, perhaps, require a little further con- 
sideration. A portion of the fluid secreted by the membrane 
of the nose, and altered in character by the peculiar inflam- 
mation there existing, is absorbed ; and, as it is conveyed 
along the lymphatics, in order to arrive at the place of its 
destination, it inflames them, and causes them to enlarge aud 
suppurate. There is, however, a peculiarity accompanying 
the inflammation, which they take from the absorbtion of the 
virus of glanders. They are rarely large, except at first, or 
hot or tender ; but they are characterized by a singular hard- 
ness, a proximity to the jaw-bone, and frequently actual 
adhesion to it. The adhesion is produced by the inflamma- 
tory action going forward in the glands, and the eflusion of 
coagulable lymph. This hardness and adhesion accompany- 
ing discharge from the nostrils, and being on the same side 
with the nostril wdience the discharge proceeds, aflbrd proof 



DISEASES OF THE GLAXDS. 137 

not to be controverted that the horae i.s glandered. Notwith- 
standing this, however, there are cases in which tlie glands 
are neither adherent nor much enlarged, and yet there is a 
constant discharge from one or both nostrils. The veter- 
inary surgeon would have little hesitation in pronouncing 
them to be cases of glanders. He will trust to the adhesion 
of the gland, but he will not be misled by its looseness, nor 
even by its absence altogether. 

" Glanders have been confounded with strangles, and by 
those who ought to have known better. Strangles are pe- 
culiar to young horses. The early stage resembles cold, with 
some degree of fever and sore throat — generally with dis- 
tressing cough, or, at least, frequent wheezing; and when 
the enlargement appears beneath the jaw, it is not a single 
small gland, but a swelling of the whole of the substance be- 
tween the jaws, growing harder toward the center, and, after 
awhile, appearing to contain a fluid, and breaking. In stran- 
gles the membrane of the nose will be intensely red, and the 
discharge from the nose j^rofuse and purulent, or mixed with 
matter almost from the first. When the tumor has burst, 
the fever will abate, and the horse will speedily get well. 

" Should the discharge from the nose continue, as it some- 
times does, for a considerable time after the horse has recov- 
ered from strangles, there is no cause for fear. Simple 
strangles need never degenerate into glanders. Good keep- 
ing, and small doses of tonic medicines, will gradually perfect 
the cure. 

"Glanders have been confounded with catarrh, or cold; but 
the distinction between them is plain enough. Fever, loss 
of appetite, and sore throat accompanying cold — the quidding 
of the food and gulping of the water are sufficient indica- 
tions of the latter of these; the discharge from the nose is 
profuse, and, perhaps, purulent; the glands under the jaw, if 
swelled, are movable ; there is a thickening around them, and 
they are tender and hot. "With proper treatment, the fever 
abates, the cough disappears, the swellings under the throat 
eubside, and the discharge from the nose gradually ceases; 



138 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

or, if it remains, it is usually very different from that wliich 
characterizes glanders. 

"In glanders there is seldom cough of any consequence, and, 
generally, no cough at all. A running from the nose, small 
in quantity, and, from the smallncss of its quantity, drying 
about the edges of the nostrils, and presenting some appear- 
ance of stickiness, will, in a few cases, remain after catarrh, 
and especially after the influenza of spring; and these have 
gradually assumed the character of glanders, and more par- 
ticularly when they have been accom.panied by enlarged 
glanders and ulceration in the nose. Here the aid of a judi- 
cious veterinary surgeon is indispensable, and he will some- 
times experience considerable difficulty in deciding the case. 
One circumstance will principally guide him. l^o disease 
will run on to glanders which has not, to a considerable and 
palpable degree, impaired and broken down the constitution, 
and every disease that does this will run on to glanders.^ He 
will look then to the general state and condition of the 
horse, as well as to the situation of the glands, the nature of 
the discharge, and the character of the ulceration. 

" If, after all, he is in doubt, an experiment may be resorted 
to, which wears, indeed, the appearance of cruelty, and which 
only the safety of a valuable animal or of a whole team can 
justify. He will inoculate an ass, or a horse already con- 
demned to the hounds, with the matter discharged from the 
nose. If the horse is glandered, the symptoms of glanders, 
or farcy, will appear in the inoculated animal in the course 
of a few days. 

" The imst-mortem examination of the horse will remove every 
doubt as to the character of the disease. The nostril is gen- 
erally more or less blanched with spots or lines of inflamma- 
tion, of considerable intensity. Ulceration is almost invari- 
ably found, and of a chancrous character, on the septum, and 
also on the se-thmoid and turbinated bones. The ulcers evi- 
dently follow the course of the absorbents, sometimes almost 



^■We regard this as certainly au over-statement. 



DISEASES OF THE GLAXDS. 139 

confined to the track of the main vessel, or, if scattered over 
the membrane, generally thickest over the path of the lym- 
phatic. The sethmoid and turbinated bones are often filled 
with pus, and sometimes eaten through and carious; but, in 
the majority of cases, the ulceration is confined to the ex- 
ternal membrane, although there may be pus within. In 
aggravated cases, the disease extends through all the cells of 
the face and head. 

" The path of the disease down the larj^nx and windpipe is 
easily traced, and the ulcers follow one line, that of the ab- 
sorbents. In aggravated cases, this can generally be traced 
on to the lungs. It produces inflammation of these organs, 
characterized, in some cases, by congestion; but in other 
cases, congestion having gone on to hepatization, in which 
the cellular texture of the lungs is obliterated. Most fre- 
quently, when the lungs are aftected at all, tubercles are 
found (miliary tubercles), minute granulated spots on the sur- 
face or in the substance of the lungs, and not accompanied 
by much inflammation. In a few cases, there are larger tu- 
bercles, which soften and burst, and terminate in cavities of 
varying size. 

"In some cases, and showing that glanders is not essentially 
or necessarily a disease of the lungs, there is no morbid aflec- 
tion whatever in those organs. 

" The history thus given of the symptoms of glanders will 
clearly point out its nature. It is an affection of the mem- 
brane of the nose. Some say that it is the production of 
tubercles, or minute tumors, in the upper cells of the nose, 
which may long exist undetected, except by a scarcely per- 
ceptible running from the nostril, caused by the irritation 
which they occasion. These tubercles gradually become 
more numerous ; they cluster together, suppurate and break, 
and small ulcerations are formed. The ulcers dischars-e a 
poisonous matter, which is absorbed and taken up by the 
neighboring glands, and this, with greater or less rapidity, 
vitiates the constitution of the animal, and is capable of 
communicating the disease to others. Some content them^ 



140 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

selves with saying that is an inflammation of the membrane 
of the nose, which may assume an acute or chronic form, or, 
in a very short time, or exceedingly slowly, run on to ulcer- 
ation, 

" It is inflammation, whether specific or common, of the 
lining membrane of the nose, possibly for months, and even 
years, confined to that membrane, and even to a portion of 
it, the health and usefulness of the animal not being in the 
slightest degree impaired. Then, from some unknown cause, 
not a new but an inteuser action is set up, the inflammation 
more speedily runs its course, and the membrane becomes 
ulcerated. The inflammation spreads on either side down 
the septum, and the ulceration at length assumes that pe- 
culiar chaucrous form which characterizes inflammation of the 
absoij-bents. Even then, when the discharge becomes gluey, 
and sometimes after chancers have appeared, the horse is 
apparently well. There are hundreds of glaudered horses 
about the country, with not a sick one among them. For 
months or years this disease may do no injury to the general 
health. The inflammation is purely local, and is only recog- 
nized by the invariable accompaniment of inflammation and 
increased secretion. Its neighbors fall around, but the dis- 
ease aflects not the animal whence it came. At length, a 
constitutional inflammation appears, farcy is established in 
its most horrible form, and death speedily closes the scene. 

"What, then, is the cause of this insidious, dreadful disease? 
Although we may be in a manner powerless as to the re- 
moval of the remedy, yet, if we can trace its cause and man- 
ner of action, we may, at least, be able to do something in 
the way of prevention. Much has been accomplished in this 
way. Glanders does not commit one-tenth part of the rav- 
ages which it did thirty or forty years ago, and, generally 
speaking, it is only found as a frequent and prevalent disease 
where neglect, filth, and want of ventilation exist. 

" Glanders may be either bred in the horse or communicated 
by contagion. "What we have further to remark on this 
malady will be arranged under these two heads. 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 141 

"Improper stable management we believe to be a far more 
frequent cause of glanders than contagion. The air which 
i° necessary to respiration is changed and empoisoned in its 
passage through the lungs, and a fresh supply is necessary 
for the support of life. That supply may be sufficient barely 
to support life, but not to prevent the vitiated air from again 
and again passing into the lungs, and producing irritation 
and disease The membrane of the nose, possessed of ex- 
treme sensibility for the purposes of smell, is easily irritated 
by this poison, and close and ill-ventilated stables oftenest 
witness the ravages of glanders. Professor Coleman relates 
a case which proves to demonstration the rapid and fatal 
agency of this cause. ' In the expedition to Quiberen, the 
horses had not been long on board the transports, before it 
became necessary to shut down the hatchways for a few 
hours; the consequence of this was, that some of the horses 
were suffocated, and that all the rest were disembarked 
either glandered or farcied.' 

" In a close stable the air is not only poisoned, by being re- 
peatedly breathed, but there are other and more powerful 
sources of mischief. The dung and the urine are suffered to 
remain, fermenting and giving out injurious gases. In many 
dark and ill-managed stables, a portion of the dung may be 
swept away, but the urine lies for days at the bottom of the 
bed, the disgusting and putrifying nature of which is ill-con- 
cealed by a little fresh straw, which the lazy housekeepei 
scatters over the top. 

"The stables of gentlemen are generally kept hot enough, 
and far too hot, although in many of them a more rational 
mode of treatment is beginning to be adopted ; but they are 
lofty and roomy, and the horses are not too much crowded 
together, and a most scrupulous regard is paid to cleanli- 
ness. Glanders seldom prevail there. The stables of the 
farmer are ill-managed and filthy enough, and the ordure and 
urine sometimes remain from week to week, until the horse 
lies on a perfect dung-hill. Glanders seldom prevail there; 
for the same carelessness which permits the filth to accumu- 



142 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

late, leaves many a cranny for the wind to enter and sweep 
away the deleterious fume from this badly roofed and un- 
ceiled place. 

" The stables of the horse-dealer are hot enough, but a prin- 
ciple of strict cleanliness is enforced, for there must be noth- 
ing to offend the eye or nose of the customer, and there 
glanders are seldom found; but if the stables of many of 
our post horses and those employed on our canals are ex- 
amined — almost too low for a tall horse to stand upright in 
them, too dark for the accunmlation of filth to be per- 
ceived, too far from the eye of the master, ill- drained and 
ill-paved, and governed by a false principle of economy, 
which begrudges the labor of the man and the cleanliness 
and com.fort of the animal — these will be the very hot-beds of 
the disease, and in many establishments it is an almost con- 
stant resident. 

"Glanders may be produced by any thing that injures, or 
for a length of time acts upon and weakens the vital energy 
of this membrane. They have been knowni to follow a frac- 
ture of the bones of the nose. They have been the conse- 
quence of violent catarrh, and particularly the long-continued 
discharge from the nostrils, of which we have spoken. They 
have been produced by the injection of stimulating and acid 
substances up the nostrils. Every thing that weakens the 
constitution will generally lead to glanders. It is not only 
from bad stable management, but from the hardships which 
they endure, and the exhausted state of their constitution, 
that the post and machine horses are subject to glanders, and 
there is scarcely an inflammatory disease to which the horse 
is subject that is not occasionally wound up and terminated 
by the appearance of glanders. 

"Among the causes of glanders is want of regular exercise. 
The connection, although not evident at first glance, is too 
certain. When a horse has been worked with peculiar se- 
verity, and has become out of spirits and falls away in flesh 
and refuses to eat, a little rest and a few mashes would make 
all right again ; but the groom plies him with cordials, and 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. I43 

adds fuel to the fire, and aggravates the state of fever that 
has commenced. What is the necessary consequence of this? 
The weakest goes to the wall, and either the lungs, or the 
feet, or this memhrane — that of the nose — the weakest of all, 
exposed day after day to the stimulating, debilitating in- 
fluences that have been described, becomes the principal seat 
of inflammation that terminates in glanders. 

" It is iu this way that glanders have so frequently been 
known to follow a hard day's chase. The seeds of the dis- 
ease may have previously existed, but its progress will be 
hastened by the general and febrile action excited, the ab- 
surd measures which are adopted not being caleuLated to 
subdue fever, but to increase the stimulus. 

"Every exciting cause of disease exerts its chief and worst 
influence on this membrane. At the close of a severe cam- 
paign, the horses are more than decimated by this pest. At 
the termination of the Peninsular War, the ravages of this 
disease were dreadful. Every disease will predispose the 
membrane of the nose to take on the inflammation of glan- 
ders, and with many — as strangles, catarrh, bronchitis, and 
pneumonia — there is a continuit}^ of membrane, an associa- 
tion of function, and a thousand sympathies. 

" There is not a disease which may not lay the foundation 
for glanders. Weeks, months, and years* may intervene be- 
tween the predisposing cause and actual evil; but at length 
the whole frame may become excited and debilitated in 
many a way, and then this debilitated portion of it is the 
first to yield to the attack. Atmospheric influence has some- 
what to do with the prevalence of glanders. It is not so 
frequent in summer as in winter, partly attributable, perhaps, 
to the diflerent state of the stable in the summer months — 
neither the air so close or so foul, nor the alternations of 
temperature so great. 

" There are some remarkable cases of the connection of 
moisture, or moist exhalations, that deserve record. When new 

* We are convinced that in this Mr. Youatt is greatly in error. 



144 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

stabling was built for the troops at Ilytlie, and inhabited be 
fore the walls were perfectly dry, many of the horses, that 
had been removed from an open, dry and healthy situation, 
became affected with glanders, but some time having passed 
over, the horses in those stables were as healthy as the others, 
and glanders ceased to appear. An innkeeper at Wakefield, 
built some extensive stabling for his horses, and, inhabiting 
them too soon, lost a great proportion of his cattle from 
glanders. There are not now more healthy stables in the 
place. The immense range of stables under the Adelphi, in 
the Strand, where the light never enters, and the supply of 
fresh air is not too abundant, were for a long time notori- 
ously unhealthy, and many valuable horses were destroyed 
by glanders ; but now they are filled with the finest w^agon 
and dray horses that the metropolis or country contains, and 
they are fully as healthy as in the majority of stables above 
ground. 

" There is one more cause to be slightly mentioned — heridi- 
tary predisposition. This has not been sufiiciently estimated, 
with regard to the question now under consideration, as well 
as with respect to every thing connected with the breeding 
of the horse. There is scarcely a disease that does not run 
in the stock. There is that in the structure of various parts, 
or their dispositions to be affected by certain infiuences, 
wh'ich perpetuates in the ofispring the diseases of the sire ; 
and thus contraction, opthalmia, roaring, are decidedly he- 
reditary, and so is glanders. M. Dupuy relates some decisive 
cases. A mare, on dissection, exhibited every appearance 
of glanders ; her fill}', vrho resembled her in form and in 
her vicious propensities, died glandered at six years old. A 
second and a third mare, and their foals, presented the same 
fatal proof that glanders are hereditary. 

" Glanders are highl}^ contagious. The farmer can not be 
too deeply impressed with the certainty of this. Consider- 
ing the degree to which this disease, even at the present 
day, often prevails, the legislature would be justified in in- 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 145 

terfering, hj some severe cnactmeuts, as it has done in the 
case of small-pox in the human subject. 

"The early and marked symptoms of glanders is a discharge 
from the nostrils of a peculiar character, and if that, even be- 
fore it becomes prevalent, is rubbed on a wound, or on a mu- 
cous surface, as the nostrils, it will produce a similar disease. 
I*' the division between two horses were sufficiently high to 
prevent all smelling and snorting at each other, and contact 
of every kind, and they drank not out of the same pail, a 
sound horse might live for years, uninfected, by the side of 
a glandered one. The matter of glanders has been mixed 
up into a ball, and given to a healthy horse, without effect. 
Some horses have eaten the hay left by those that were 
glandered, and no bad consequence has followed, while 
others have been speedily infected. The glanderous matter 
must come in contact with a wound, or fall on some mem- 
brane thin and delicate, like that of the nose, and through 
which it may be absorbed. It is easy, then, accustomed as 
horses are to be crowded together, and to recognize each 
other b}^ the smell — eating out of the same manger, and 
drinking from the same pail — to imagine that the disease 
may be very readily communicated. One horse has passed 
the other when he has been in the act of snorting, and has 
become glandered. Some fillies hq,ve received the infection 
from the matter blown by the wind across the lane, when 
a glandered horse in the opposite field has claimed acquaint- 
ance b}' neighing or snorting. It is almost impossible for an 
infected horse to remain long in a stable with others with- 
out irreparable mischief. 

" If some persons underrate the danger, it is because the dis- 
ease may remain unrecognized in the infected horse for some 
months, or even years, and, therefore, when it appears, it is 
attributed to other causes, or to after inoculation. jSTo glan- 
dered horse should be employed on any farm, nor be per- 
mitted to work on any road, or even to pasture on any field. 
Mischief may be so easily and extensively effected, that the 
public interest demands that every infected animal should 
10 



146 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

be summarily destroyed, or given over for experiment to a 
veterinary surgeon, or recognized veterinary establishment. 
" There are a few instances of the spontaneous cure of 
chronic o-landers. The discharge has existed for a consider- 
able time. At length, it has gradually diminished, and has 
ceased ; and this has occurred under every kind of treatment, 
and without any medical treatment; but, in the majority of 
these supposed cases, the matter was only pent up for awhile, 
and then, bursting from its confinement, it flowed again in 
double quantity ; or, if glanders have not reappeared, the 
horse, in eighteen or twenty-four months, has become far- 
cied or consumptive, and died. These supposed cases are few 
and far between, and are to be regarded with much suspicion. 
" As for medicine, there is scarcely a drug to which a fair 
trial has not been given, and many of them have had a 
temporary reputation ; but they have passed away, one after 
another, and are no longer heard of. The blue vitriol and 
the Spanish fly have held out longest; and, in a few cases, 
either N'ature or these medicines have done wonders, but, in 
the majority of instances, they have palpably failed. The 
din iodide of copper has lately acquired some reputation. 
It has been of great service in cases of farcy, but is not to 
be depended on in glanders. 

"Where the life of a valuable horse is at stake, and the 
owner adopts every precaution to prevent infection, he may 
subject the horse to medical treatment; but every humane 
man will indignantly object to the slitting of the nostrils, the 
scraping of^the cartilage, the searing of the gland, the firing 
of the frontal and nasal bones, and to those injections of 
mustard and capsicum, corrosive sublimate and vitriol, by 
which the horse has been tortured and the practitioner dis- 
graced. At the veterinary school, and by veterinary sur- 
geons, it will be most desirable that every experiment should 
be tried to discover a remedy for this pest ; but, in ordinary 
instances, he is not faithful to his own interest, or that of 
his neighbors, who does not remove the possibility of dan- 
ger in the most summary way. 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 147 

" If, however, remedial measures are resorted to, a pure 
atmosphere is that which should first be tried. Glanders is 
the peculiar disease of the stabled horse, and the preparation 
for, or the foundation of a cure, must consist in the perfect 
removal of every existing cause of the malady. The horse 
must breathe a cool and pure atmosphere, and he must be 
turned out, or placed in a situation equivalent to it. 

" A salt marsh is, above all others, the situation for this 
experiment, but there is much caution required. No sound 
horse must be in the same pasture, or a neighboring one: 
the palings or the gates may receive a portion of the mat- 
ter, which may harden upon them, and, many months after- 
ward, be a source of mischief; nay, the virus may cling 
about the herbage, and empoison it. Cattle and sheep 
should not be trusted with a glandered horse, for the ex- 
periments are not sufficiently numerous or decided as to the 
exemption of these animals from the contagion of glanders. 

" Supposing that glanders have made their appearance in 
the stables of a farmer, is there any danger after he has re- 
moved or destroyed the infected horse? Certainly there is; 
but not to the extent that is commonly supposed. There is 
no necessity for pulling down the racks and mangers, or even 
the stable itself, as some have done. The poison resides, not 
in the breath of the animal, but in the nasal discharge, and 
J:hat can only reach certain parts of the stable. If the man- 
gers, and racks, and bales, and partitions are first well 
scraped, and scoured with soap and water, and then thor- 
oughly washed with a solution of the chloride of lime, (one 
pint of the chloride to a pailful of water,) and the walls are 
lime-washed, and the headgear burned, and the clothing 
baked or washed, and the pails newly painted, and the iron- 
work exposed to a red heat, all danger will cease. 

" Little that is satisfactory can be said of the prevention 
of glanders. The first and most effectual mode of prevention 
will be to keep the stables cool and well ventilated, for the 
hot and poisoned air of low and confined stables is one of 
the most prevalent causes of glanders. 



148 AMEKICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

"N"ext to ventilation stands cleanliness; for the foul aii 
from the fermenting litter, urine and dung, must not only 
be highly injurious to health generally, but irritate and pre- 
dispose to inflammation that delicate membrane which is the 
primary seat of the disease. If to this be added regular ex- 
ercise, and occasionally green meat during the summer, and 
carrots in the winter, we shall have stated all that can be 
done in the way of prevention. 

^'-Glanders in the human being. — It can not be too often re- 
peated that a glandered horse can rarely remain among 
sound ones without serious mischief ensuing ; and, more than 
all, the man who attends on that horse is in danger. The 
cases are now becoming far too numerous in which the 
groom, or veterinary surgeon attending on a glandered 
horse, becomes infected, and, in the majority of cases, dies. 
It is, however, more manageable in the human being than 
in the quadruped. Some cases of recovery from farcy and 
glanders stand on record with regard to the human being, 
but they are few and far between." 

While we give to his descriptions high praise for their 
general accuracy and clearness, we are not so despairing as 
this distinguished author -seems to be. We do not propose 
to leave the unfortunate owner with the glandered horse 
upon his hands, and with such poor comfort as the unquali- 
fied statement that glanders is incurable. Nor can we sub- 
scribe to the sentiment " that the entire list of drugs have 
been tried, and have proved entirely ineffectual," or that 
"little that is satisfactory can be said of a preventive of 
glanders." The Englishman possesses the knowledge, but 
the Yankee goes further, and applies it. The Englishman 
has the science, the Yankee the invention. 

In this case, as in regard to most other diseases described 
in this work, our remedies and treatment are exclusively 
our own. We believe that we have discovered a sure anti- 
dote to glanders, remarkably simple, and easily procured, 
unknown to the practitioners of the Old World, highly 
educated and scientific as they undoubtedly are. As a pre- 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 149 

ventivc, it is a specific. It is also a certain cure in the first 
stage, and, in a majority of cases, eqnally eftective in the 
second. Perhaps we might even affirm that it has been 
known to save horses ah^eady passed into the third stage, 
but, knowing how difficult it generally is to draw the line 
of demarcation between this and the preceding stage, we 
hesitate to claim more than assured facts will warrant. 

This antidote and highly valuable remedial agent is simply 
tobacco. At those periods of the disease which we have 
named, this hitherto useless and noxious weed possesses the 
wonderful power of neutralizing the virus in the blood, and 
of counteracting its contagious influences ; to dry up the 
nasal discharges; and, finally, not only to abate the disease, 
but to remove its evil effects from the system entirely. 

TREATMENT. 

Bleed in the neck vein, removing about three quarts of 
blood. Have read}^ a strong decoction of tobacco, of which 
put one-fourth of a pint in a pint of warm water, and turn 
this down the horse. It will make him very sick, but it 
will affect him much less than when in health, and thus 
used, is not really dangerous. Wash out his nostrils with 
the tobacco decoction, weakened with water, as directed in 
the last section for staggers. Be at pains to reach as high 
up the nostril with the mop as you can. The mixture must 
be as hot as the horse can bear it. 

Continue this treatment from two to four weeks, or until 
a favorable change is apparent. Use the mop in the nose 
for eight or ten days; drench with the tobacco mixture 
every third, day for the time above mentioned ; give the 
horse as much sulphur and resin as you can get him to eat 
for the space of ten days. A full dose will be four ounces 
of sulphur and two of resin, lioth pulverized. Let the food 
be light and relaxing. Grass is the preferable diet, if it is 
in season. If the horse is turned out to pasture, be sure that 
no other stock is allowed access to it. Use every precaution 
to prevent direct infection from the nasal discharges. Stable 



150 AMEEICAN FAKMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

the animal at niglit, and, in cold or wet weather, keep him 
where it is dry and moderately warm. 

Attend promptly to disinfecting your stable. Fumigate 
it with tobacco-smoke while the horse is in it. Make 
him and all his companions inhale as much of the smoke as 
you can. Fill the stable with the smoke until you can no 
longer remain in it yourself. AYash every part of it, and 
especially the mangers, with a strong decoction of tobacco, 
and keep pounded tobacco-leaves in every feeding-place used 
by any horse that has been exposed to the disease. As soon 
as you commence this course, there is little danger of the 
contagion spreading further. 

It may be necessar}^, in some cases, to^ continue 4his treat- 
ment longer than the time specified above. But if these 
directions are faithfully and perseveringly carried out, there 
are few cases of glanders which may not be successfully 
treated, up to the period in which the disease is passing into 
the third stage. 

It will be an excellent precautionary measure to fumigate 
the stable occasionally, if there is any reason to suspect that 
its inmates have been exposed to this or any other infectious 
disease. The tobacco will prove a preventive for all alike. 
Other respectable authorities, besides Youatt, in the extract 
we have given, affirm that there is danger of infection being 
comnmnicated to the attendant upon a glandered horse. This 
may be the case where there is no preventive. But the 
attendant, in a stable frequently fumigated with tobacco- 
smoke, and with a pipe or good cigar in his mouth, need 
have no fears. 

We can not dismiss this subject without a few plain words 
to every owner of a horse. 

It is a stigma upon the humanity and intelligence of any 
man to keep his noble and faithful servant, the horse, in a 
low, damp, or muddy stable, in the midst of foul air, with a 
great pile of manure heating and steaming beneath him ; and 
not only without ventilation, but oftentimes deprived of light 
also, which is really almost as essential to the health and 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 151 

comfort of cither man or beast as are food and air. In the 
close, fetid atmosphere of such a place, neither horse nor 
human can long remain without succumbing to disease. 

If any of these nuisances exist in your stable, in the name 
of every consideration of mercy, gratitude, and self-interest, 
give your faithful friend a better home. Let him have a 
clean, dry house to live in, with plenty of air and light. If 
the old stable can not be remedied in all these respects, tear 
it down, and build a new and better one. Depend upon it, 
you will consult your own interests by so doing; and thus, 
too, you may prove that you are lit to own a horse. 

Of course, these suggestions must be acted upon in treat- 
ing all established cases of glanders, or it is mere presump- 
tion to expect a cure. To use any remedies under the most 
unfavorable circumstances possible, and then, because they 
fail, to sweepingly condemn the whole treatment, is neither 
justice nor common sense. 

A REMARKABLE CASE. 

Having occasion to pass through Giles County, Tennessee, 
some time during the 3'ear 1856, the author happened to stop 
at the store, which was also the post-office, of the little vil- 
lage of Bethel. Here he heard a gentleman present remark 
to his neighbor that he was almost ruined ; it seemed as 
tliougli his horses and mules would all die, as he understood 
that the disease which had got among them was absolutely 
incurable. Inquiry elicited the following facts. The gentle- 
man was a farmer and large stock-raiser in the vicinity, 
having at that time about forty head of horses and mules, 
most of them young, which he had been getting ready for 
market. lie had had the great misfortune to become the 
owner of a glandered horse. The infection had spread among 
the young colts, and a number of them were already dis- 
eased. 

This was, indeed, a most alarming state of affairs, involving 
a pecuniary interest of several thousands of dollars. It was 
a case, if one ever occurred, in which to test the efficacy of 



152 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

our remedy for glanders. The opportunity was improved. 
The writer gave the gentleman the whole plan of treatment, 
and received from him the promise that it should be faith- 
fully carried out. With this, he parted from Esquire Joseph 
Edmonston, and went on his way. 

About a year later, business called us into that neighbor- 
hood again. Learning from the citizens the remarkable suc- 
cess which had followed the prescribed treatment, the author 
was drawn, by interest and sympathy, to the residence of 
Esquire Edmonston, and there learned from his own lips the 
truth of the statements already made. He informed us that, 
when he had used the remedy twice, the infection ceased. 
He had cured ten cases, and prevented the remainder of his 
stock from taking the disease. His stables had not been 
giv2n over to the flames, not one of his horses had been 
killed, and he believed that the treatment, if pursued wuth 
energy, and accompanied with due attention to the surround- 
ings and general condition of the patient, would effect a cure 
in the large majority of cases. By an outlay of not more 
than twenty-five dollars, he had saved stock valued at nearly 
five thousand. 

FARCY. 

Like its accompaniment, glanders, this disease is much 
more common on the old continent than it is on ours. Com- 
paratively few American farmers have ever seen the farcy of 
the English and French stables. Opportunities to observe it, 
therefore, have not been very frequent in the United States, 
and our veterinarians are less familiar with it than their co- 
adjutors across the ocean. Yet it is not an entire stranger 
in this country. Occasionally it makes its appearance in 
certain localities, and is generally, if not always, the closing 
chapter in the history of a case of glanders. 

In our opinion, farc}^ is to be regarded as a general gland- 
ered condition of the horse. The poisonous virus of glanders 
is diftused by the blood through his entire system, and finally 
breaks out upon the surface of the skin in putrid ulcers, 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 153 

which presently burst, aud discharge a yellow, watery fluid. 
After this discharge has been going on for some time, it 
undergoes a material change. The exudations become more 
mattery, purulent, and offensive, and are mixed with blood. 
These ulcerous pustules most frequently break out upon the 
legs, neck, and slioulders, which are often almost entirely 
coverod with them. At first, they are sometimes confined to 
the legs, and, occasionally, to but one of them. They swell, 
and give forth offensive discharges ; the disease spreads, until 
the whole body often becomes a putrid and loathsome mass; 
and, finally, the sufferer dies. 

Farcy is extremely contagious in all its stages, as its con- 
nection Avith glanders would lead us to expect. It is usually 
one of the fearful fruits of criminal neglect or mismanage- 
ment, by which the horse is allowed to rot down in damp, 
moldy stables, or amid accumulations of filth and dirt. The 
generation of this disease, more, perhaps, than that of glanders, 
speaks volumes in dispraise of some one. 

We quote Youatt's account of farcy, which, although not 
precisely in harmony with every detail of our own observa- 
tions, seems to us to be correct, in the main : 

" Farcy is intimately connected with glanders. They will 
run into each other, or their symptoms will mingle together, 
and before either arrives at its fatal termination, its associate 
will almost invariably appear. An animal inoculated with 
the matter of farcy will often be afflicted with glanders, while 
the matter of glanders will frequently produce farcy. They 
are difierent types, or stages, of the same disease. There is, 
however, a very material difference in their sj-mptoms and 
progress, and this most important one of all, that while 
glanders are generally incurable, farc}^, in its early stage and 
mild form, may be successfully treated. 

"While the capillary vessels of the arteries are every-where 
employed in building up the frame, the absorbents are no less 
diligently at work in selecting and carrying away every useless 
or worn-out portion or part of it. There is no surface, there 
is no assignable spot on which thousands of these little 



154 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

mouths do not open. In the discbarge of their duty, they 
not only remove that which has become useless, and often 
that which is healthy, but that wliich is poisonous and de- 
structive; They open upon the surface of ever}^ glanderous 
chancer. They absorb a portion of the virus, which is se- 
creted by the ulcer, and, as it passes along these little tubes, 
they suffer from its acrimonious quality ; hence the corded 
veins, as they are called by the farrier, or, more properly, 
the thickened and inflamed absorbents following the course 
of the veins. 

"At certain distances in the course of the absorbents are 
loose duplicatures of the lining membrane, which are pressed 
against the side of the vessel, and permit the fluid to pass in 
a direction toward the chest, but belly out and impede, or 
arrest, its progress from the chest. The veins at these places, 
and the additional inflammation there excited, is, to a greater 
or less degree, evident to the eye and to the feeling. They 
are usually first observed about the lips, the nose, the neck, 
and the thighs. They are very hard, — even of scirrhous 
hardness, more or less tender, and with perceptible heat about 
them. 

"The poisonous matter being thus confined and pressing on 
the parts, suppuration and ulceration ensue. The ulcers 
have the same character as the glanderous ones on the 
membrane of the nose. They are rounded, with an elevated 
edge and a pale surface. They are true chancers, and dis- 
charge a virus as infectious and dangerous as the matter of 
glanders. While they remain in their hard prominent state, 
they are called buttons or farcy-buds, and they are connected 
together by the inflamed and corded veins. 

"In some cases the horse will droop for many a day before 
the appearance of the corded veins or buds. His appetite 
will be impaired ; his coat will stare ; he will lose flesh. The 
poison is evidently at work, but has not gained sufiicient 
power to cause the absorbents to enlarge. In a few cases 
these buds do not ulcerate, but become hard and diflicult to 
disperse. The progress of the disease is then suspended, 



DISEASES OF THE GLAXDS. 155 

and possibly, for some mouths, the liorse will appear to be 
restored to health ; but he bears the seed of the malady 
about him, and iu due time the farcy assumes its virulent 
form, and hurries him off. These buds have sometimes been 
confounded with the little tumors, or lumps, termed surfeit. 
They are generally higher than these tumors, and not so 
broad. They have a more knotty character, and are prin- 
cipally fouud on the inside of the limb, instead of the out- 
side. 

" Few things are more unlike or more perplexing than the 
diflerent forms which farcy assumes at times. One of the 
legs, and particularly one of the hinder legs, will suddenly 
swell to an enormous size. At night the horse will appear 
to be perfectly well, and in the morning one \Qg will be 
three times the size of the other, with considerable fever, 
and scarcely the power of moving the limb. 

"At other times the head will be subject to this enlarge- 
ment ; the muzzle, particularly, will swell, and an oflensive 
discharge will proceed from the nose. Sometimes the horse 
will gradually lose flesh and strength ; he will be hide-bound ; 
many eruptions will appear in different parts; the legs will 
swell; cracks will be seen at the heels, and an inexperienced 
person may conceive it to be a mere want of condition, com- 
bined with grease. 

" By degrees the affection becomes general. The virus has 
reached the termination of the absorbents, and mingles with 
the general circulating fluid, and is conveyed with the blood 
to every part of the frame. There are no longer any valves 
to impede its progress, and, consequently, no knots or buds ; 
but the myriads of capillary absorbents that penetrate every 
part become inflamed, thickened, and enlarged, and cease to 
discharge their function. Hence arises enlargement of the 
substance of various parts — swelling of the legs, chest, and 
head — sudden, painful, enormous, and distinguished by a heat 
and tenderness which do not accompany other enlargements. 

"It is a question somewhat difiicult to answer, whether 
farcy can exist without previous glanders. Probably it can 



156 AMERICAN FARMERS HORSE BOOK. 

not. There is the loiig-contiuued, insidious progress of glan 
ders — the time which may elapse, and often does, before the 
owner is aware, or the veterinary surgeon sure of it— the 
possibility that minute ulceration may have, for a long 
while, existed in some of the recesses of the nose, or that 
the slight discharge, undreaded and unrecognized, yet vitia- 
ted, poisoned, and capable of communicating the disease, 
may liave been long traveling through the frame, affecting 
the absorbents, and preparing for the sudden display of 
farcy. 

" One thing, however, is undeniable, that farcy does not 
long and extensively prevail without being accompanied by 
glanders; that even in the mild stages of farcy, glanders 
may be seen, if looked for, and that it never destroys the 
animal without plainly associating itself with glanders. 
They are, in fact, stages of the same disease. 

" Glanders is inflammation of the membrane of the nose, 
producing an altered and poisonous secretion, and when suffi- 
cient of this vitiated secretion has been taken up to produce 
inflammation and ulceration of the absorbents, farcy is es- 
tablished. Its progress is occasionally very capricious, con- 
tinuing, in a few cases, for months and years, the vigor of 
the horse remaining unimpaired; and, at other times, run- 
ning on to its fatal termination, with a rapidity perfectly 
astonishing. 

"Farcy has been confounded with other diseases; but he 
must be careless or ignorant who mistook sprain for it. The 
inflammation is too circumscribed and too plainly connected 
with the joint or the tendon. 

" It may be readily distinguished from grease or swelled 
legs. In grease there is usually some crack or scurfiness, a 
peculiar tenseness and redness and glossiness of the skin, 
some ichorous discharge, and a singular spasmodic catching 
up of the leg. In farcy the engorgement is even more sud- 
den than that of grease. The horse is well to-day, and to- 
morrow he is gorged from the fetlock to the haunch, and 
although there is not the same redness or glossiness, there 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 157 

is grea+ tenderiiess, a burning heat in the limb and much 
general fever. It is simultaneous inflammation of all the 
absorbents of the limb. 

" Surfeit can scarcely be confounded with farcy or glanders. 
It is a pustular eruption — surfeit bumps, as they are called — 
and terminating in desquamation, not in ulceration, although 
numerous, yet irregularly placed and never following the 
course of the absorbents, but scattered over the skin. 

'•Local dropsy of the cellular membrane, and particularly 
that enlargement beneath the thorax, which has the strange 
appellation of water-farcy, have none of the characters of 
real farcy. It is general debility, to a greater or less degree, 
and not inflammation of the absorbents. If properly treated, 
it soon disappears, except that occasionally, at the close of 
some serious disease, it indicates a breaking up of the con- 
stitution. 

" Fare}'-, like glanders, springs from infection and from bad 
stable management. It is produced by all the causes which 
give rise to glanders, with this difterence, that it is more fre- 
quently generated, and sometimes strangely prevalent in par- 
ticular districts. It will attack, at the same time, several 
horses in the same ill-conducted stable, and others in the 
neighborhood, who have been exposed to the same predis- 
posing causes. Some have denied that it is a contagious dis- 
ease. They must have had little experience. It is true that 
the matter of farcy must come in contact with a wound or 
sore, in order to communicate the disease ; but, accustomed 
as horses are to nibble and play with each other, and sore 
as the corners of the mouth are frequently rendered by the 
bit, it is easy to imagine that this may be easily eflected ; 
and experience tells us that a horse having farcy ulcers 
can not be suffered to remain with others without extreine 
risk." 

There is another eruptive disorder to which the horse is 
subject, that, in this country, is often called farcy, but which, 
in reality, is nothing more than the eftect of over-heating, 
at a time when the blood is out of order. After a day of 



158 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

severe exercise, little knots appear on the neck, shoulders, 
and side, with a little scabby excresence on the top of each. 
They last but a few days, and then go away of themselves. 
'No danger whatever attends them, and they mere!}' evidence 
some degree of impurity of the blood, which proper physick- 
ing will readil}^ correct. This is really only a species of 
quick surfeit ; ^^et the masses, in many parts of this country, 
attach no other meaning to the term farcy than this feeble 
and entirely erroneous application. 



TREATMENT. 

As farcy is simply a constitutional development of glan- 
ders, or, at least, a disease of precisely the same type, its 
treatment must be the same as that prescribed in the last 
section for glanders. Perhaps the principal reason why its 
treatment in England has been attended with better suc- 
cess than that of the other malady is, that remedial agents 
have been more directly and extensively applied in the one 
case than in the other. But the tobacco treatment, espe- 
cially as concerns the swabbing out the nostrils, brings the 
remedy in equally close contact with the parts atfected, in 
both cases. 

Our experience does not confirm Youatt's statement, that 
farcy is more readily cured than its precursor and companion, 
glanders. 

For the treatment of the little eruptions known as farcy 
by many American farmers, see section on Surfeit, in Chap- 
ter VIII. 

DISTEMPER. 

Many of the symptoms of this disease seem to identify it 
with the " strangles " of the old farriers, a name which, un- 
doubtedly, took its rise from the circumstance that the horse 
is liable to be choked while eating, from his frequent attacks 
of coughing. English writers describe " strangles " under its 
old name to this day ; but in this country the term is almost 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 159 

nnkiiown, and farmers and horsemen generally speak of the 
much too familiar "distemper," only. 

Yet there are some features characteristic of distemper 
which do not correspond with the description of strangles, 
as we find it given by foreign writers. Youatt says that the 
latter disease is "principally incident to young horses, usually 
appearing between the fourth and fifth year." Distemper, 
however, is found to attack animals of all ages and condi- 
tions, though it is quite true that the young are the ones 
most subject to it. But the chief point of dissimilarit}^ ap- 
pears in this, that while no author makes any mention of 
strangles being a contagious disease, distemper partakes of 
that character in the highest degree. 

There are three distinct stages of this disease. The first 
is marked by a dry, hacking cough, attended by a running 
at the nose. The discharge, at first thin and watery, soon 
becomes thick and purulent, and is always of a whitish 
color. This color, and also the cough, will be indications to 
which the keeper will give the utmost heed, as showing that 
the disease is not glanders. But if these s^-mptoms are not 
sufficiently clear, others will soon follow which can not be 
mistaken. 

The second stage comes on rapidly. The horse begins to 
swell under the throat, and examination reveals that it is 
the tonsils and salivary glands which are aflected. They 
have been inflamed from the beginning ; the glands are now 
closed, and matter is forming in them, j^ature is striving 
diligently to throw off the disease in this way. An abscess 
next establishes itself in the throat, and in this are collected 
all the mattery secretions of the glands. 

The abscess continues to enlarge until presently it breaks, 
and the matter is discharged. This constitutes the third 
stage. Matter may run for weeks, or perhaps months, but 
from this time the horse generally begins to amend. 

During the whole progress of the disease there is high 
fever, and the pulse is excited and hard. The appetite fails, 
and the horse gradually loses flesh, until, at last, he is re- 



160 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

duced to a mere skeleton. As the disease advances, all tliests 
symptoms are aggravated. The fever increases, the pulse 
grows harder and more rapid, the eyes look dull and glassy, 
the hair stands out, and has a dry, dead appearance, and the 
head droops nearly all the time. The horse either refuses to 
eat, or does so with great difficulty; he becomes exceed- 
ingly stupid, and seems utterly woe-begone; his whole con- 
dition is wretched indeed. If an abscess does not form, he 
is almost sure to die; and even when one is developed, it is 
often of so fearful a character as itself to be the cause of 
death. Occasionall}', dreadful abscesses have been known 
to gather on the belly, near the sheath, from the effects of 
distemper. 

We have already said that this disease is very contagious. 
Horses will take it from each other at considerable distances 
apart. In glanders, infection proceeds from the nasal dis- 
charges ; but in distemper it is communicated by the fe- 
verish breath, and much further than in the case of the 
former. "When distemper breaks out among a body of horses 
or mules, all are likely to have it, except those who have 
passed through it before ; for, like small-pox in the human 
being, it never attacks a horse the second time. Colts 
and young animals, who are especially subject to it, will 
take it from older ones, but seldom communicate it to them. 
Yet it will be folly to calculate upon anj exemptions when 
it breaks out in a stable none of whose inmates have ever 
had it. 

Like glanders and farcy, distemper is most frequently gen- 
erated by filth and bad keeping. It is undoubted!}^ epidemic 
in character, however; but, like cholera, it is always most at 
home in those localities where filth and miasma are most 
abundant. Cleanliness may be set down as essential to a 
cure. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment, in its general features, resembles that for 
glanders. Bleed in the neck vein, taking about three pints 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS. 161 

of blood ; then take and thoroughly mix together one table 
Bpoonful of gunpowder, one of lard, one of soft-soap, two 
of tar, and one of pulverized gum myrrh ; put a spoonful 
of this down the horse's throat, as far as you can, with a 
paddle or spoon. Do this twice a day. The object is not so 
much to have him swallow it, as it is to have it lodge about 
the glands of the throat. It will have the effect to stimu- 
late their natural discharge into the mouth, and then will 
keep them open. At the same time, make a strong decoc- 
tion of tobacco, as hot as the horse can bear it, with which 
wash his neck and throat. Eepeat this two or three times a 
a day. If an abscess is actually gathering, but is not too far 
advanced, this treatment will be likely to drive it away. If 
the disease is in its early stage, the patient will get well in 
a few days. 

In connection with the above, give the horse as much sul- 
phur and resin as he can be induced to eat — a quarter of a 
pound, at least, each day. The proportions will be two parts 
of sulphur to one part of resin. The food should be light, such 
as mashes, boiled oats, and cut feed ; or, if it is in season, 
grass will be still better. Do not give any corn until after 
complete recovery. On no account should the horse be 
worked while in this suffering condition. 

Fumigate your stable well, and use the tobacco in other 
ways, as directed under the head of glanders. It is a disin- 
fectant of distemper, and, if properly used, will prevent the 
rest of your stock from taking the disease. 

The author has treated hundreds of cases of distemper, 
and with perfect success, almost without exception. In three 
cases out of five, the disease w^as entirel}' broken before the 
formation of an abscess. One case may be given, by way 
of illustration : 

Dr. II. Ilardison, of Marshall County, Tennessee, had lost 
ten young mules and colts with distemper, and still had more 
than thirty in a very bad way from the same cause. By the 
use of the treatment here laid down, these were all cured. 
He informed the writer that he considered himself indebted 
11 



162 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

to this course for the vahie of, at least, thirty youug 
mules. 

RECAPITULATION OF TREATMENT. 

1st. Bleed freely in the neck vein. 

2d. Give the distemper mixture according to prescription, 

3d. Wash the neck and throat with the hot decoction of 
tobacco. 

4th. Fumigate, and use the other means for disinfecting 
by tobacco. 

NASAL GLEET. 

Accompanying distemper, there is always a thick and 
more or less purulent discharge from the nose, continuing, 
very often, after all the other symptoms have abated. It is 
sometimes kept up for a long time, and becomes disagreea- 
ble in the extreme. The thick mattery exudations from the 
nose are blown out, in great flakes and plugs, many times a 
day, to the great annoyance of all that go near. Such a 
horse is a downright nuisance. He is constantly snorting 
to free his nose of the offensive matter, and, when least 
suspecting it, one may suddenly find himself perfectly bespat- 
tered with it. Ill his stall, every thing about him is be- 
daubed — the bridle, the halter, the manger — none of which 
can be touched without danger of having the hands covered 
with the filth. 

This disease has received the name of gleet. It is really 
a species of chronic distemper, without the fever character- 
izino; its acute forms. Sometimes it becomes a most formi- 
dable disease. The discharge is often mixed with blood, 
and is apt to partake of the color of the food — green, if the 
horse is feeding on grass ; yellow, if on corn ; white, if on cut 
feed or oats. This is doubtless caused by the relaxing and 
enlargement of the ducts which form the communication 
between the mouth and nasal cavities from the eftects of 
disease, so that the juices of the food, during mastication, 
readily pass into the nostrils. Such a condition of these 
ducts is by no means uncommon. Every one has seen it 



DISEASES OF THE GLAXDS. 163 

shown in some horses, by the water running through the nose 
when he drinks with the head very low. 

The horse's chances for recovery, and his whole future 
liistory, will now depend entirely upon the condition he is 
m, and the care that is taken of him. Let him remain in 
a low, damp stable, half lighted, and scarcely ventilated at 
all, and his present condition will rapidly degenerate into 
glanders. As it is, the case is sutficiently obstinate to re- 
quire time and not a little patience to remove it. But -with 
fidelity and perseverance in the treatment, a cure may be 
efiected in nearly every instance. 

TREATMENT. 

This, of course, will be very similar to that for distemper. 
Wash out the nose well with the little mop and the tobacco 
mixture, every day, for two weeks, or until the discharge has 
ceased. Bathe his throat with some of the mixture, as hot 
as it can be made without scalding the skin. This is to be 
applied every day with a large cloth. If his condition seems 
to indicate the desii-ability of a second bleeding, take not to 
exceed three pints more of blood. Give one pound of sul- 
phur and half a pound of resin, in four doses — one dose 
each day. Should there be any cough remaining, try the 
distemper mixture, and continue using it as long as it seems 
necessary. 

There is still some danger of infection. In addition to keep- 
ing dry tobacco-leaves in the manger of the diseased horse, 
the stable should be fumigated once a week for a month. 

The feed must be light and moist. Good pasture, open 
air, and mild exercise will greatly accelerate recovery. Do 
not keep the horse in-doors, if the weather will permit of 
his being out. If in winter, let him have a liberal propor- 
tion of green feed, such as carrots, potatoes, turnips, or cab- 
bage. At the same time, exercise him moderately each day. 

For all the diseases described in this chapter, the remedy 
mentioned under Section VII, in Chapter XXIY, will be 
found highly valuable as a purifier of the blood. 



164 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER VI. 

DISEASES OF THE EYE. 




The above is a sectional view of the eye, exhibiting its 
different parts. It also shows in what manner the sensation 
of sight is produced. 

A B a supposed object viewed by the animal, and an inverted image of which, 

a, 6, is thrown on the retina at the back of the eye. 
c c The points where the rays, having passed the cornea and lens, converge 

by the refractive power of the lens. 
d e The rays proceeding from the extremities of the object to the eye. 
/ The cornea, or horny and transparent part of the eye, covered by the con- 

junctiva, uniting different parts together. 
g The crystalline (crystal or glassy) lens, behind the pupil, and in front of 

the vitreous humor. 
h h Muscles of the eye. 

i The optic nerve, or nerve of sight. 

k The sclerotiva (hard, firm coat) covering the whole of the eye, except the 

portion occupied by the cornea, and being a seeming prolongation of 

the covering of the optic nerve. 
I Tho choroides (receptacle, or covering), or choroid coat, covered with a 

black secretion, or paint. 
m m The iris, or rainbow-colored circular membrane under the cornea, in front 

of the eye, and on which the color of the eye depends. The dupli- 

cature behind is the uvea, so called from being colored like a grape. 

The opening in the center is the pupil. 
n n The ciliary (hair-like) processes, which are folds, or plaits, of the choroid coat, 

reflected from the side of the eye to the edge of the crystalline lens. 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 165 

The retina, or net-like expansion of the optic nerve, spread over the whole 

of the choroides as far as the lens. 
p The vitreous (glass-like) humor filling the whole of the cavity of the eye 

behind the lens. 
g The aqueous (water-like) humor filling the space between the cornea 

and the lens. 



We shall be better able to understand tbe various diseases 
of the horse's eye, if we can first get a correct idea of its 
structure and the functions of its dift'erent parts. With the 
help of the foregoing cut, this will not be difficult. 

The eye has three distinct membranes, or coats, and also 
three humors. The sclerotic coat (see k) is that upon the 
outside, covering about four-fifths of the globe of the eye. 
It is strong, firm, and inelastic, by which qualities it is ad- 
mirably adapted to its office of protecting from external 
injury the delicate organ which it incloses. It is of a white 
color, and constitutes that membrane which is seen when 
the " white of the eye " is exposed. In the human being, 
this is very conspicuous ; but in the horse it is rarely visible, 
unless the animal meditates mischief, Avhen he turns his 
glance outward or backward as far as he can, and thus shows 
a little patch of the sclerotic coat. 

In front — this being the part over which the sclerotica is 
not extended — is the cornea (see /). This is a perfectly trans- 
parent coat, set in like a watch-crystal in its case, under the 
circular edges of the sclerotica. It is the outer membrane 
upon the front of the eye. 

The choroid coat, (see T) comes next, nearly similar in its ex- 
tension to the sclerotic. It is an exceedingly fine membrane, 
filled with a net-work of blood-vessels, and covered upon the 
inside with a peculiar secretion, a black pigment, or paint, 
which absorbs such wandering rays of light received within 
the eye as might dazzle or confuse the vision. Opposite the 
pupil (which will be described shortly), it has a beautiful, 
greenish-white lining, whose reflection, although not visible 
in the glare of day, may be seen quite plainly in the gray of 
twilight. 



166 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The inner coat of all is the retina (see o), the beautiful ex- 
pansion of the optic nerve spread over the internal surface 
of the eye. This receives the impressions conveyed by tht 
rays of light, which, when they tall upon it, trace on its deli- 
cate and susceptible expansion a wonderfully minute yet 
perfect image of the object in view from whence the rays 
have proceeded. By the optic nerve the sensation thus ex- 
perienced is instantly communicated to the brain, the seat 
of intelligence, and in this way the animal is conscious of 
seeing. 

The three humors of the eye are the aqueous and vitreous, 
and the crystalline lens, which comes between them. An- 
atomists do not always call the lens a humor, but such it 
really is. 

The aqueous (watery) humor (see q) occupies the space be- 
tween the cornea and crystalline lens. It is a perfectly trans- 
parent and limpid fluid, secreted by the lining of the cham- 
ber in which it lies. If the attenuated walls of this chamber 
are punctured, so that the humor escapes, ISTature rapidly 
renews it, and the sight is restored. 

The crystalline lens (see g) consists of a number of concen- 
tric layers, arranged like the coats of an onion. It has a 
jelly-like consistence, and in shape is double-convex, as rep- 
resented in the cut. It is the chief agent in so modifying 
and refracting the rays of light, which are continually pro- 
ceeding from every object within the range of vision, as to 
cause those rays to clearly trace the miniature image of that 
object upon the retina. Without this lens sight would be 
impossible. 

The vitreous (glass-like) humor (see ]) 2^) fills the great bulk 
of the globe of the eye. It is a limpid fluid, but, being 
bound up in a net-work of transparent cells, it has the ap- 
pearance and consistency of a thin jelly. 

In addition to these three membranes and three humors, 
there are three other important things to be mentioned in 
our description of the horse's eye. The first of these is the 
conjunctiva, which is the very delicate membrane covering the 



DISEASES OF THE EYE, 167 

whole front part of the eye and the inside of the eyelids. It 
is perfectly transparent when in health, but becomes blood- 
shot or filmy when diseased. We shall see, as we proceed 
with this chapter, that it is extremely liable to become in- 
flamed. 

Another noticeable part which remains to be described is 
the iris, (literally, the rainbow,) so called from the beautifully 
iiitermingling hues which it display's. The cut, being a sec- 
tional view, does not show the iris any further than to im- 
perfectly indicate its location at 7n vi. It is a most elegant 
and delicate curtain, outstretched in the space between the 
cornea and crystalline lens. Its office is to moderate the light 
entering the eye, according to the intensity of the rays. This 
is the membrane that gives color to the eye, so variable in 
dilfereut animals and in the human species. In the horse its 
color is generally brown, or verging upon it. 

But this curtain is not a continuous one : if it were, the 
inner chamber of the eye would be in a state of almost entire 
darkness. There is an aperture in the center, forming the 
pupil, \\hich is the last thing we now have to describe in 
connection with the eye. The substance of the iris is com- 
posed of contractile tissue. "When the glare of a noon-day 
sun, or other bright light, falls on the retina, the iris con- 
tracts, and the pupil is made smaller; but when the light 
which falls upon the retina is feeble — as it is at twilight, for 
instance — the iris relaxes and the pupil is enlarged, in order 
that all the rays possible may be admitted. The difterence 
in the size of the pupil may be plainly seen by examining 
the eye of a sound horse, first in the sta*ble, and then in the 
bright sunlight. One's own ej^es (if a looking-glass be used), 
or those of a friend, will show similar changes, in this re- 
spect, when exposed to different intensities of light. 

CAUSES OF DISEASED EYES. 

The eyes of the horse are very subject to disease; for their 
affections, although few in number, are lamentably prevalent. 
Large numbers of horses are ruined yearly, to the value of 



168 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

LuiKlreds of thousands of dollars, in our country alone, by 
the loss of eye-sight. It is generally considered, when the 
eyes become diseased, that all is over with that horse — he 
must go blind. For most ordinary uses, such an animal is 
regarded as but little better than worthless. It will be quite 
worth our while, therefore, to examine into the causes which 
make so many horses go blind. 

Bad stable-management and ill-usage are at the bottom of 
the trouble, in a large majority of instances. Of the former 
cause, as it exists in many portions of the Union, we can not 
forbear speaking with great severity; the latter is still more 
apparent. Both are prolific in breeding disease and con- 
tagion, and botH work fearful consequences to the eye-sight. 

How many stables have we visited w^here the volatile gas 
of ammonia, or hartshorn, was so strong that it brought the 
water into our eyes when we remained there only a few 
moments! What must be the efl'ect upon the eyes of the 
poor horse, compelled to live amid these fumes for weeks and 
months together ! But perhaps a still more serious evil is 
the deficiency of light, which characterizes so many stables. 
Light is essential to the health of both body and mind of 
man, and the physical needs of the animal, in this respect, 
are equally as great as his. Even vegetation, when grown 
in the dark, turns pale and sallow, and tastes utterly insipid. 
Light imparts to it essential qualities wiiich nothing else 
can ; and so with the physical system of living beings. The 
water}^ humors and secretions of the body are subject to 
change in the dark. It is not strange, therefore, that the 
eye suffers when deprived of the light, which is its natural 
element; or that, after a time, its watery humors begin to 
look milky. . 

Chronic distemper and founder, with some other constitu- 
tional diseases, which are also the offspring of bad manage- 
ment, help to aggravate any unfavorable condition of the 
eyes, and often directly predispose them to disease. Ex- 
ternal injuries operate in a similar manner. Some brutal 
teamster inflicts a blow on the head, w^hich is received, in 



^ DISEASES OF THE EYE. 169 

part, by the eye-ball, or the end of his lash accidentally 
strikes the eye, and, in either case, soreness and inflammation 
follow. Few horses would ever have diseased eyes if kept 
in the open air and kindly cared for; nor would they be 
much more likely to, if they were housed in well-kept and 
properly-lighted stables. 

Any of the circumstances which we have thus enumerated, 
especially when accompanied b}^ a feverish condition of the 
general system, are very apt to bring on more or less inflam- 
mation about the eyes and head, frequently extending to the 
lacrymal ducts, which have been described in the section on 
blind staggers. These are closed up, so that no water can 
pass through them. Thus they constantly increase the in- 
flammation of the surrounding parts, and the eye becomes 
worse and worse. 

NATURALLY WEAK EYES. 

Every farmer has heard, and probably talked, a great deal 
about naturally weak eyes in difterent horses; and yet it may 
be questioned whether the phrase is properly applicable once 
in a hundred times when people use it. Natural weakness 
or deficiency of the organ of sight, is extremely rare. It 
must be confessed, however, that there does seem to be a 
greater susceptibility of disease in some cases than in others. 
When the water from the eyes runs down upon the outside, 
it is an evidence that the lacrymal ducts, its natural channel, 
are closed. It indicates an inflammatory condition of those 
passages, which is very likely to be communicated to the 
eyes. 

So far as our observation has extended, weak or inflamed 
eyes have no connection with any particular stock of horses, 
nor with any particular size, color, or shape of the eye, nor 
yet with any color of the hair. Nor do "blind teeth " trouble 
the horse much. If they are in the way, it is easy to knock 
them out with a mallet and a hard piece of wood. But this 
is seldom, if ever, necessary. Let them alone, and they will 
come away of themselves, at the proper time. There is no 



170 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

such connection between these teeth and the eyes as to war- 
rant the assumption of some modern horse doctors, that the 
former are the cause of serious irritation to the horse in re- 
spect to his eye-sight. 

Sometimes, however, a false tooth is found growing up be- 
side the upper jaw teeth — in part between the first and second 
teeth, but kipping over both of them — which it would be 
difficult to convince most Kentucky and Tennessee horse- 
breeders is not in some manner concerned in producing 
weak or diseased eyes. While their opinion is entirely er- 
roneous, it is true that this tooth is so much in the way 
that it ought to be removed. This may be effected by the 
means just named, or with a large pair of forceps, a pair of 
pincers, or a pair of blacksmith's tongs. 

There is a time in the life of the colt, during teething, 
when the soreness of the gums, from cutting teeth, may act 
as an exciting cause of fever in the head, and may thus have 
something to do with the eyes ; but many other complaints 
to which the horse is subject are still more likely to pro- 
duce the same effects. Big head, poll evil, glanders, dis- 
temper, and other disorders, are all accompanied by fever 
about the head; yet, fatal as they often prove, it is rarely 
that any one charges upon them the horse's weak or dis- 
eased eyes. 

All these theories which assume to find the cause of blind- 
ness or imperfect vision in certain conditions of the teeth, 
must be regarded as thoroughly exploded. They do not 
stand the test of close observation, while reason is most de- 
cidedly opposed to them. The horse with the best eyes may 
lose them by disease; and many an animal with a suspicious 
looking eye, we have known to fall asleep in death, at a good 
old age, and both whose "naturally weak eyes" did their 
duty perfectly to the very last. Our experience has taught us 
this ; AVhenever you find a horse with what is called natu- 
rally weak eyes, you may set it down as an almost positive 
certainty that some unfeeling person has owned or used him, 
at some period or other, and has maltreated or abused him 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 171 

in some way. Such is the history of the infirmity in nearly 
all cases. 

N'or do we believe one half of what is said and written in 
regard to weak eyes being inherited. Our own observation 
tends to the conclusion that the doctrine of hereditary weak- 
ness, in this respect most noticeably, has been carried to an 
ur reasonable extreme by the majority of breeders and veteri- 
nary authors. In this opinion a large number of the prin- 
cipal horse-raisers, with whom our profession has brought 
us in contact, fully conincide. Some of them have tested 
the question by repeated experiments. A friend in Wilson 
County, Tennessee, did this in the case of four blind mares, 
each of whom brought two or three colts in as many years, 
and no fault could be found with the eyes of any of them. 
We knew them long enough to test the matter. Except in 
respect to their eye-sight, they were fine mares, with good 
parts, and in excellent condition. The colts were equally 
good, and had perfect eyes besides. 

If there be no other fault — if the form, size, and blood be 
right, there is little reason to apprehend any serious defect 
in the colt. Eyes and all, he will be sound hardly less surely 
than if neither parent had had a blemish. This is not so un- 
reasonable as, at first sight, it may seem to many ; because, 
as we have before said, " naturally weak eyes " and blindness 
are nearly always the direct result of external injury or abuse 
of some kind. Kot long since, we saw a very fine stable 
horse, with an enlarged hock joint, which made him so lame 
that he could only with difficulty walk ofi* at all. The owner 
was warranting him that this should not afifect the foal, and 
he was perfectly safe in so doing. 

Spavin, ring-bone, and some other deformities, are in the 
same category. They are nearly always produced by some 
violence or bad treatment, and are seldom transmitted from 
one generation to the next. 

Another prevalent opinion which claims our attention is 
this, that young horses and colts have weak eyes oftener than 
more mature animals. This is certainly an entire misappre- 



172 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

hension of the facts iu the case. True, there is a large ma 
jority of young animals among the whole number thus 
afflicted ; but this is only a natural consequence of the fact 
that there are nearly twice as many colts and young horses, 
iu all farming regions, as there are older ones. Taking into 
consideration this disparity in point of numbers, no difi'er- 
ence can be found among these classes in respect to diseased 
eyes. 

One fact is important in this connection. Colts, like chil- 
dren, are more apt to take disease than they will be when 
they have grown older and stronger. Many a lingering and 
ultimately fatal disorder, in both man and beast, might have 
been averted by proper care and judicious management in 
their youth. The seeds of weakness and decay are often 
iraplanted at a very early age, growing with the growth and 
strengthening with the strength. 

The principles laid down in this section have a pointed 
illustration in the history of a noble horse which the author 
once owned. Under the saddle and in the buggy, Turk — 
for that was his name — had no superior. He was a deep 
chestnut sorrel, a perfect beauty. We owned him three 
years, and at the end of that time his eyes went entirely 
out. They were fearfully diseased when he came into our 
hands, and had been for at least two years previous. Dur- 
ing all this time, his eye-sight was gradually but surely fad- 
ing away. The right eye failed first, and then the left. Such 
was the power and endurance of his vital energies, that for 
this long period of time they resisted the encroachments of 
disease, and succumbed at last, only after a struggle of five 
years. 

Turk had every indication of good eyes. They were large 
and well set in the sockets, with a wide space between them, 
and the bone of the skull w^as dishing. In short, his head 
was a perfect model for a strong eye. ISTow, w^hat was the 
cause of his going blind ? His case was called one of " natu- 
rally weak eyes." We traded for him, in part, to experiment 
upon, and to see whether his eyes could not be cured ; and 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 173 

although they had gone too far for this, we are sat.sfied that 
partial sight was prolonged at least two years by the treat- 
ment applied to them. His history, when we succeeded in 
learning it fully, proved to be as follows : He was very fast, 
and had been trotted on time for a wa^er. He fell into the 
hands of a wild, reckless young man, who often forced him 
to his utmost speed, utterly regardless of consequences. Al- 
most daily he was overheated, and when taken back to the 
stable, with his blood at fever heat, was regularly fed on 
corn. At other times, after these hard drives, he was left to 
stand in the rain or cold, for hours together, without shelter 
of any kind. After three years of such treatment, his ejefi 
betrayed signs of weakness, and at intervals he became en- 
tirely blind. Was it any wonder ? 

A nearly similar history might be traced in well-nigh 
every case of this kind. Different horses evidently possess 
the ability to withstand the influence of such abuse, in very 
different degrees. In the vast majority of cases, however, 
the farmer may rest assured that bad eyes are the fruit of 
previous bad management. 

GENERAL TREATMENT OF DISEASED EYES. 

Predisposition to disease seems often to exist in the eyes 
of some horses. When not the result of injuries of the parts, 
this generally arises from the presence of fever in the system, 
or from some deep-rooted and chronic affection. To be of 
any benefit in such cases, remedies must enter the blood, and 
radically change the animal's entire condition. Alteratives, 
though very useful, do not seem to act so readily and power- 
fully upon the system of the horse as on that of the human 
being. More vigorous measures must be adopted, in order 
to secure the same ends. 

In the case under consideration, bleeding will be of most 
essential service. Three pints of blood may be taken from 
the neck vein, every ten days, for two months, or more than 
this, if the progress of the case renders it advisable. As 
to medicines, sulphur is the great alterative in treating the 



174 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

horse. It is slow in its action, but enters more readily into 
the blood, and extends its effects to the capillaries and skin 
more thoroughly than any other remedy that we ever used. 
The flour of sulphur, although not so strong as the roll 
sulphur, is much more convenient for the farmer's purposes, 
as it is already pulverized. Give three doses, every other 
day, for a week — one-fourth of a pound at a dose — and then 
omit for a week. Continue giving it in this waj^, each al- 
ternate week, for two months. The preparation mentioned 
in Section VII, of Chapter XXIV, will also be found an 
excellent alterative. 

If in winter, let the horse have plenty of green food, such 
as carrots, beets, or cabbage, as long as it can be procured. 
His diet should always be light and moist, with an entire 
exclusion of corn. 

If there is an inflammation in the eye or about the lids, 
use the eye-wash freely. Should the lids be much inflamed 
underneath, scarify them a little. Put a twitch on the horse's 
nose to hold him still ; then turn the lids over, so as to ex- 
pose their iimer surface, and, with the point of a sharp knife, 
make a number of slight incisions. Let them bleed freely. 
This will allow the overloaded vessels to discharge them- 
selves, and will thus afford great relief. If necessary, the 
operation may be repeated two or three times, at intervals 
of four or five days. 

SORE EYELIDS. 

Soreness of the eyelids is very commonly the beginning 
of more serious disease. It is an invariable accompaniment 
of inflammation of the eye. But there is one form of it, dif- 
fering from its usual development from that cause, charac- 
,terized by redness and itching about the edges, which some- 
times become raw and mattery. These cases usually prove 
very obstinate and diflicult of treatment, from the fact that 
the horse is always rubbing them, and so keeping up the 
irritation and soreness. 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 175 



TREATMENT. 

jS"o application will be of any benefit unless the horse's 
head can be fastened, which will be the first thing to be 
done. In a mild case, wet the lids with the eye-wash two 
or three times a day; in an aggravated or an unusually ob- 
stinate case, use the mercurial salve, but very cautiously, the 
edges of the lids being just touched with it. The utmost 
care must be taken to prevent it from running into the eye. 

MOON EYES. 

"What farmers call " moon eyes " are the eflfects of a dis- 
order known to scientific practitioners as specific or j)criodic 
ophthalmia — a disease more to be dreaded than any other to 
which the eye is subject. It is an inflammation of the scle- 
rotic, or outer white coat of the eye ; of the conjunctiva, the 
delicate membrane covering the front of the eye and the inside 
of the lids ; and of the iris, the little curtain stretched across 
the interior of the first chamber of the eye. From the ex- 
tent to which the iris is involved, this aftection has also re- 
ceived the name of iritis. 

The conjunctiva is the part which first, and most notice- 
ably, shows the terrible inflammation. The " white of the 
eye " wears a deep red appearance ; the cornea looks cloudy, 
and, perhaps, ha's a few specks ; deeper down, the iris has 
lost its bright color; and the aqueous humor, filling the 
outer chamber of the eye, looks thick and milky. In foct, 
the eye is now undergoing complete disorganization. The 
forces of Nature rally to resist the attack ; there is a great 
and often sudden improvement; and for a time, it seems as 
thousrh the disease had been baftied. But the same causes 
which brought on the first attack presently induce another. 
Thus, for months, or it may be for years, the assaults of 
disease come and go, each time returning sooner, remaining 
longer, and evidently of a worse type than before. 

The first alternation of improvement is very likely to mis- 
lead the owner into the belief that the trouble is entirely 



176 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

over. He soon discovers his mistake. The attack comes on 
again; and now the membrane is more inflamed, the eye 
clouds thicker, and the aqueous humor becomes more milky 
in appearance, than before. Once more these symptoms al- 
most entirely disappear. A close inspection of the eye at 
this time shows a slight depression in the general roundness 
of its form ; and, after each successive attack, it seems more 
and more flattened, and the aqueous humor whiter and 
thicker. 

These periodic recurrences increase in both frequency and 
duration, until, at last, there is no intermission between them. 
The eye-ball loses its convexity, the aqueous humor is per- 
manently thickened, the power of the transmission of light 
is entirely lost, and the horse becomes blind forever. 

This form of disease is popularly known as " moon blind- 
ness," from the periodic nature of its returns, which a singu- 
lar notion has associated with the changes of the moon. 
But it is found that there is no regularity in the intermis- 
sions between these returns. They come on much more 
frequently in the later than in the early stages of the dis- 
ease, at intervals varying from only six to as much as fifty 
days. 

TREATMENT. 

We know of no cure for specific ophthalmia. The disease 
has progressed too far for the practitioner's skill to be of 
much avail, and is too deeply seated to be reached by any 
direct treatment. In most cases the owner stands by, & 
helpless spectator of the ruin w^hich is being wrought in the 
eyes of his favorite. The aqueous humor is undergoing i 
fearful deterioration, which it is not in the power of morta 
to permanently arrest. All that can be done is to retard itr 
progress, and to afford temporary relief. In this direction 
much may sometimes be accomplished. The hints we have 
given in a preceding section, in regard to the general treat- 
ment of diseased eyes, should be acted upon as far as they 
are applicable. Copious bleeding and a strong dose of salts 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 177 

will cause the eye to clear up very suddenly. Jockeys have 
a trick of doing this when they wish to dispose of a moon- 
eyed horse not entirely hlind. 

There is another species of inflammation of the eye, called 
simple ophthalmia, which it is not alwaj's easy to distinguish 
from the earliest stages of the much more formidable dis- 
ease just described. It is generally one of the effects of a 
cold, or is caused by the presence of some foreign body in 
the eye, and, for the most part, the inflammation is confined 
to the conjunctiva. If it does not pass away of itself as 
soon as the horse begins to recover from the cold, or the irri- 
tating substance is removed, it readily yields to treatment in 
nearly every case. 

CATARACT. 

Cataract is an opacity of the crystalline lens, an affection 
which renders this most important humor of the eye utterly 
incapable of transmitting the rays of light to the retina be- 
hind. It is quite commonly, though not always, the sequel 
of a case of " moon eyes." When it is confirmed, the sight 
is hopelessly destroyed. The pupil of the eye then becomes 
80 white that even the casual observer will notice it at a 
considerable distance. A lesser degree of the same appear- 
ance marks its progress from the beginning. In our country 
this disease is happily of rare occurrence. 

Our farmers, however, are better acquainted with another 
affection of the eye which goes by the same name. It is 
one form of what some veterinarians call spurious cataracts. 
A small, whitish spot is seen on the eye, generally near the 
outer corner. It has a peculiarly thick, cloudy appearance, 
and seems to be of a cartilaginous or gristly texture. Some- 
times it increases to half the size of a wheat grain, but is 
usually a great deal less. It gets no larger, and, in time, 
IS'ature will get rid of it without any assistance. These 
spots generally make their appearance between the ages of 
three and six .years, and disappear within the next three 
12 



178 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

years afterward. Their duration is very variable, from one 
day upward. They impair the vision but little, if at all. 

GLASS EYES. 

Nearly all writers on the horse speak of "glass eyes" as 
the popular name of amaurosis, or giitta sercjio;, which is palsy 
of the retina, the expansion of the optic nerve. A disease 
of this character must be exceedingly difficult of treatment, 
and can seldom have any other termination than blindness. 
Thus the English veterinarians all describe it. 

But in this country the term "glass eye" has another and 
very difierent meaning. It is applied to a peculiar forma- 
tion of the organ, which seldom hinders the horse from seeing 
as well as ever. Very young colts have had glass eyes, and 
have grown old, without showing any change in the appear- 
ance of the eye. During all this time they could, appar- 
entl}', see as well as other horses, and the same in this ej-e 
as in the other. Only one eye seems to possess this pecul- 
iarity at the same time, and, except its white, glassy look, 
its appearance in no wise dift'ers from that of the other. 
Utterly unlike the symptoms of genuine amaurosis, the pupil 
is perfect, and the iris is distinct and quite natural. It is 
most probable that the white ring around the cornea is but 
the reflection in the aqueous humor of a peculiar color of 
some of the coatings of the eye, as a close inspection shows 
the aqueous and vitreous humors in the glass eye to be of 
the same color, and as clear and transparent as in the other. 
No treatment is necessary. 

The owner of a glass-eyed horse in this country, or, at 
least, in the Western and South-western States, would be sur- 
prised to be told that his animal was less valuable on account 
of this peculiarity. If it injured his sale at all, it would be 
solely on account of its singular look. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE HAW, OR HOOKS. 

One of the most common affections to w^hich the eye of 
the horse is subject is inflammation of the haw, constituting 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 179 

what is known all over the country as " hooks." The dis- 
ease is varionsly called "bone hooks" and "fatty hooks." 
Yet there are many among the masses who doubt the exist- 
ence of " hooks," and the question is often asked whether 
horses do really have them. To this query only one reply 
is possible. No hook, or hooks, or any thing else, grows in 
the eye that does not belong there. If people were better 
informed concerning the structure and uses of the haw, they 
would not fall into such errors in regard to the " hooks." 

The haw — or "washer," as it is sometimes called — is a 
little, triangular-shaped cartilage, lying just within the inner 
corner of the e3'e, where Nature has provided a cavity, in 
which it rests when not in use. Being thus stored away, 
only a small portion of it can be seen when the eye is in 
health. Its shape is exactly adapted to the convexit}' of the 
eye. Like other cartilages, its texture is tough and gristly. 
It is also very elastic. 

The haw serves as a sort of scoop, to pass quickly over the 
eye and throw off any oftending substances which may have 
lodged upon the ball, such as dust, hay-seed, flies, and gnats. 
Motion is given it, not directly by muscular action, and yet, 
at the will of the horse, most perfectly. The arrangement 
by which this is efiected is curious and admirable indeed. 
The orbit — the cavity in which the eye is placed — is plenti- 
fully supplied with fatty deposits, which enable the organ to 
turn in all directions without friction; and these deposits 
are most abundant in the part back of the eye, especially 
toward its inner corner. Powerful muscles surround the eye. 
These the horse contracts when any disagreeable substance 
alights upon the eye-ball ; by a mechanism almost peculiar 
to the horse, the eye is drawn back in its socket ; the fatty 
deposits near the inner corner are pressed down upon the 
haw with such force that it is thrust out, and, darting with 
lightning-like velocity over the surface of the eye-ball, gathers 
up the offending particles of dirt, or whatever foreign body 
is to be removed. Then the muscles relax ; the eye and its 
fatty deposits resume their original arrangement; and the 



180 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

elastic haw returns to its place, like a piece of well-stretchecl 
India-rubber when one lets go of it. 

Any one who will note the beautiful play of this tendon, 
when any thing approaches too near the eye, can but admire 
the wisdom and kindness of the Creator in providing this 
important and delicate organ with a means of protection so 
admirably adapted to its purpose. Its play may best be seen 
by trying to pull open the lids, or to touch the end of the 
finger to the eye-ball. 

Inflammation of the haw usually proceeds from fever and 
inflammation of the other parts of the eye, accompanied by 
swelling. Continued inflammation gives the cartilaginous 
haw a hard, bony consistency, which it did not before possess; 
and, in consequence of its own swelling and that of the parts 
which press upon it, it protrudes from its place under the 
lids into the corner of the eye, in the form of a large, whitish 
lump, much to the annoyance of the horse, and presenting a 
very unsightly appearance. It is often bent out of shape, 
and is crooked more than is natural. The removal of the 
haw, when it is in this hardened, enlarged condition, forms 
what farmers call " cutting for bone hooks." The lump has 
a fatty appearance, also, since the haw, like tbe adjacent 
parts, is supplied with a share of adipose matter. Hence the 
term " fatty hooks." 

A foolish and barbarous practice, greatly -in vogue in some 
sections, removes these bony, fatt}' lumps with the knife. 
One fact is patent in regard to this treatment : the little 
appendage which the Creator has wisely given to the eye, 
for its protection and comfort, is forever destroyed. In all 
cases, the eye is greatly impaired, and sometimes nearly 
ruined. The custom is ignorant and barbarous. It must be 
so denounced by every person of common sense who knows 
what the haw was given the horse for, and should not be 
tolerated anywhere. If those who practice it were compelled 
to travel all day through the heat and dust, without any 
means of protecting the eye from the glare of the sun, or 
the irritation of the gritty particles of dust, they would 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 181 

better understand the irreparable mischief they do the horse 
in " cutting for the hooks." It is altogether unnecessary. 
Time and a little generous treatment, such as tends to re- 
move inflammation, will invariably set matters right again. 

TREATMENT. 

Occasionall}' it may be necessary to cauterize the haw, but 
this will only occur in extreme cases, where the inflammation 
and swelling are very great. The eye-wash, applied two or 
three times a day, will generally prove sutiicient. There 
should be warm applications of this to the fatty lump, by 
using a soft piece of cloth, or some cotton, tied on the end 
of a stick. Pull the lids apart, and wash the swollen and 
inflamed parts thoroughly. If the lacrj^mal ducts appear to 
be closed, apply the eye-wash to the nose, with a swab of 
the same kind as that described in connection with the 
treatment of blind staggers. Slight scarification may do 
good, in order to relieve the overloaded blood-vessels ; but 
do not think of using the knife for any other purpose. Bleed 
from the neck vein once or twice, at intervals of ten days. 
A gallon of blood may be taken the first time, and half that 
amount the next. 

By this treatment, the inflammation will be removed, and 
the swelling will gradually subside. Some morning, when 
the owner goes out to look at his diseased horse, the hooks 
will be missing; bone hooks and fat hooks will have utterly 
vanished, and the haw will have become so reduced in size 
as to resume its proper place in the cosy little socket which 
the God of Nature has provided for it at the corner of 
the eye. 

DIMNESS OF VISION. 

Many horses can not see well, although their eyes have no 
apparent disease. Some are almost blind at night; others 
have their chief trouble in the daytime, the bright sunshine 
seeming to put the eyes almost out. The cause of this may 
generally be determined without much difficulty; the eyes 



182 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

are either too flat or too convex. A great difference may be 
noticed in the eyes of different horses, not so much as to size 
as their shape. 

The coatings of the eyes are not equally transparent in all 
horses, and a similar difference exists in regard to the clear- 
ness and refractive powers of the humors. Sometimes the 
rays of light do not fall properly upon the retina ; or, as oc- 
casionally happens, the retina may be so small that some of 
them fall outside of it. When the eye is too full or convex, 
the rays will converge too soon, and form an image of the 
object in front of the retina; when it is too fiat, they do not 
converge soon enough, and their proper focus is behind the 
retina. These conditions may all exist, wdiile there is no 
trace whatever of local or chronic disease of the eyes. 

Old horses are the ones most subject to dimness of vision. 
Their eyes become too flat, and this produces far-sighted- 
ness. The trouble with young horses is generally the reverse ; 
they are near-sighted from the too great convexity of the 
cornea. Either of these infirmities are likely to make a horse 
subject to sudden starts and other disagreeable eccentricities. 
How often may one see a near-sighted horse paying no atten- 
tion to the approach of an object, until it is quite near, and 
then, when he discovers it, throwing up his head with a 
quick stare, and other signs of alarm. Such an animal is 
pretty sure to be an inveterate stumbler, from the mistakes 
which he is always making in estimating distances. 

The eyes of some horses are never clear; the aqueous hu- 
mor seems unnaturally thick and dark; yet they remain in 
the same condition, growing no worse, if they do not im- 
prove, during a whole life-time. But a horse with such eyes 
is not perfectly sound; for imperfect vision is always a great 
defect. He is especially untrustworthy for the road. Great 
care should be taken, in purchasing a horse, to look well to 
his eyes, and avoid being imposed upon. 

We know of no remedy for dimness of vision. The difli- 
culty is beyond the reach and skill of men or medicine. 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 183 



HOW TO DETECT A BAD EYE. 

When only one eye is affected, it will look smaller than 
the other, the lids showing a less opening between them. But 
this may not always be sufficiently conspicuous to be sure of. 
The more certain method is to get the head between the 
shade and sunshine, looking out toward the light. If there 
is any cloudiness, the rays of light passing through the eye 
will reveal it plainly. A horse with bad eyes is always more 
stupid and dumpish than others. He will stand with his eyes 
closed much of the time, and does not notice the approach of 
any object near so readily as when in health. To a good 
judge, the eye will not have the bright, healthy look that 
naturally characterizes it, and the lids near the corner will 
appear somewhat dry and wrinkled. The latter indication 
must not be mistaken for the wrinkles of old age. 

Inflammation, of whatever kind, shows itself, of course, and 
needs no further description. It is only when it subsides, in 
the periodic clearing up of moon eyes, that any one is in 
any danger of being deceived and practiced upon. If you 
purpose buying or trading, the best way is to learn the his- 
tory of the horse, as fully as possible, for some years past, and 
should there be any suspicious developments, better have 
nothing to do with the beast. 

This subject is still further illustrated in the section upon 
unsoundness, in Chapter XXIII. 



184 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK 



CHAPTER VII. 

DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 
FISTULA. 

This terrible enemy of the horse makes its appearance 
upon the withers, just at the top of the shoulder-blade — at 
lirst usually upon only one side, from which, however, it 
is very apt to pass to the other. There seems to be a great 
lack of popular information in regard to it ; for, while all 
know the causes that ordinarily produce it, and also its gen- 
eral location, few stop to inquire what the particular part is 
which is chiefly aft'ected, or in precisely what manner the 
disease operates. A bruise of some kind is nearly always its 
cause. This the horse may receive in various ways ; for 
example, by striking the top of the shoulders in passing 
through a low stable-door, by kicks or bites from another 
animal, by the pressure of an illy-litting saddle, or by roll- 
ing upon stones or roots. 

A large tendon or ligament is situated upon the top of the 
shoulders, immediately under the upper portion of the shoul- 
der-blade, where it acts as a sort of pad for the bone to rest 
upon, and thus prevents the friction of pressure against the 
ribs. Its scientific name is the serrates major — that is, the 
great saw-shaped — but it is properly known as the " tough 
leather," or whitleather." This ligament reaches over and 
across the back, and by a cartilaginous connection is joined 
to the point of the vertebra, or back-bone. When injured, 
it is subject to acute inflammation, and from this simple fact 
result the whole phenomenon and rationale of fistula. 

In their healthy state, the fibers which compose the serrates 
major look very much like little strings about the size of a 
small knitting-needle, but wlxen inflamed they become as 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 18ii 

large as a pipe-stem. The tendon continues to swell until 
there is no longer room to contain it under the shoulder- 
blade, when it is forced out and forms a large, ugly tumor. 
Neglect presently develops a deep and dangerous abscess, 
which finally breaks, and, discharging immense quantities 
of matter, becomes a most loathsome sore, which runs for 
months, or it may be even for years. From the constant 
infusion of poison from the tumor, the blood becomes thick 
and black, the circulation sluggish, and the pulse very full. 
Tlie horse constantly grows thinner and weaker. Fever is 
wearing his life away, and death, at last, mercifully ends his 
suiierings. 

Sometimes the inflammation extends to the other side of 
the shoulder, and caries of the cartilages and points of the 
shoulder takes place. The tissues are destroyed, from which 
follows a sinking away and dreadful disfigurement. These 
remain permanent, so that, even if the animal is cured, the 
horse-dealer condemns him as crestfallen the moment he 
appears in sight. Few ever arrive at this stage, however, 
and fewer still ever recover. As the disease was formerly 
treated, a cure was exceedingly difiicult, and the process was, 
at best, a very tedious and troublesome one. The expression 
was often heard that it was " worth more than the horse to 
cure him." 

TREATMENT. 

Two remedies are recommended, to be used at difiTerent 
stages of the disease. When fistula is discovered, and up to 
the time that matter begins to form, the corrosive liniment 
will be found very effectual. It should be applied with a 
litth mop every morning, and if, in the course of ten or 
twelve days,* the swelling has not subsided, the May-apple 
liniment should be used, as prescribed below. The former 
will usually answer every purpose at this stage, and, in 
addition to acting very quickly, has the advantage of being 
less unpleasant and more easily employed. 

If the fistula has been coming on for a considerable time. 



186 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

however, or if the tumor is so near maturity that suppura- 
tion is inevitable, the May-apple liniment is the proper re- 
course, A thin coating of this should be spread over the 
whole surface of the tumor each morning, and carefully 
washed oft' at night, after which any old grease that may be 
at hand should be Avell rubbed on. This treatment should 
be continued for three or four days, or until matter forms in 
the little iissures of the crusted skin. When the pus begins 
to ooze out freely, the liniment may be gradually increased 
in quantity, and allowed to remain as long as a day and a 
night, but never more than this. At the end of another 
twenty-four hours it may again be applied freely, without 
preliminary cleansing of the surface. It must always be 
washed oft" thoroughly before the grease is rubbed on, with 
a cloth and warm, strong soap-suds. 

The use of this liniment will produce eficcts really aston- 
ishing to one who has never before witnessed them. At first 
it occasions a severe burning and itching, so that the horse 
will require careful fastening to prevent him from rubbing 
it oft". After suppuration has once fairly begun, however, 
he will stand in one place for hours together, apparently in 
the enjoyment of great relief. The amount of matter dis- 
charged is surprising, often oozing out from the enlarged 
pores of the skin in such abundance as to run down the leg 
to the ground, and stand in a puddle at the horse's feet. 
"When this stage has been reached the crisis is past, and a 
cure is only a question of time. A few weeks, however, are 
usually sufficient. The hair, which had come off", will grow 
out again, the neck will not be crestfallen, and the horse, 
without a scar or disfigurement of any kind, may be returned 
to duty hardly a whit less sound than ever. 

Though requiring time to carry it out aright, this treat- 
ment will cure in every stage of the disease, but is pecu- 
liarly efficacious after matter has begun to form. It has 
been known to accomplish more in four or five weeks than 
all other remedies could bring about in as many months. 
Its philosophy seems to be simply the active suppuration 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TEXDONS. 187 

wliich it induces, by drawing the high local fever to the 
surface. Two or three weeks generally suffices for the dis- 
charge of the matter, the swelling disappearing, meanwhile, 
with surprising rapidity. 

When the liniment is first applied, great care must be 
exercised not to use it too freely nor allow it to remain too 
long upon the tumor, as the fever and irritation which it 
brings on are sudden and powerful, and tend to punish the 
horse severely. It seems to scald the skin upon the surface 
before it has time to act on the capillaries and penetrate 
to the deeper seat of the disease. Even when properly 
used, the horse gives evidence of considerable suffering for 
a few days, but this will be relieved at once when suppura- 
tion actively sets in. 

A few cases of failure with this remedy are to be recorded, 
but it is believed that they are all justly chargeable to an 
improper use of the May-apple liniment. In obstinate cases 
an alternation of that application with the corrosive liniment, 
each employed for two or three days at a time, will prove very 
beneficial. Bleeding is indispensable. Fever is raging in the 
system, and the blood, poisoned by virus from the fistula, is 
thick and sluggish. Its character must be changed by quick, 
active, and powerful alteratives, and its quantity lessened by 
copious bleeding from the neck- vein. A gallon of blood may 
be taken away the first time, and half that amount again six 
days later. After this, sulphur and green feed, with the ordi- 
nary treatment, will be sufficient. 

REMARKABLE CASES. 

The history of a few remarkable cases, in which fistula 
was successfully treated by the remedies here recommended, 
can scarcely fail to interest all concerned in the care of 
horses, and who may, at any time, be called upon to combat 
this formidable disease. They all occurred in the author's 
own practice during the years from 1847 to 1851. 

A valuable young mare, belonging to Mr. Job Hicks, of 
Gibson County, Tenn., had been suftering from a large fistula 



188 AMERICA:^ FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

oil the left shoulder for about eighteen months. The ulcei 
had been eaten out with arsenic some time before, and a 
quantity of matter discharged, but it had now ceased ran- 
ning altogether, and was terribly swollen and inflamed. In 
the crown of the tumor was an indentation half as large as 
a tea-cup. The mare was quite thin in flesh, and in every 
way her condition was bad, with a high fever, a hard pulse, 
and the hair dry and bristling. This was a case peculiarly 
adapted to test the May-apple liniment, which was used 
faithfully, and accompanied with such other treatment as the 
condition of the patient required. In six weeks the tumor 
was gone, and all that remained was a small sore. The cure 
was perfect, and, except a trifling scar, marking the site of 
the indentation above-mentioned, every trace of the disease 
was removed. 

In the same neighborhood was an old mare, the property 
of Mr. Joseph Sharp, with a fistula on both sides. It had 
been eaten out with arsenic — twice upon one side, and once 
on the other — and the shoulders, still very much swollen, 
were dreadfully mangled, exhibiting great dish-like indenta- 
tions where the poison had completely destroyed the tissues. 
This case, having been on hand three years, proved obstinate 
in the extreme. Six months were required to eftect a cure, 
yet it was accomplished at last, and no recurrence of the 
disease ever followed. 

The next case to be mentioned was badly managed. Mr. 
J. P. James had a fine 3'oung horse, wnth an unusually large 
fistula on the very top of the shoulder, and extending nearly 
equally on both sides. Matter had not begun to collect, and 
the fever was terrible. The May-apple liniment was left, with 
full directions, but being allowed to remain on the tumor for 
forty-eight hours at once, a thick crust was formed, which 
soon peeled oif, exposing a hard, tough, glazed surface, upon 
yhich subsequent applications seemed to have no effect what- 
ever. At that period, 1848, the corrosive liniment had not 
come into use, and it was only after five months of almost 
unremitting attention that the sore was finally healed. A 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AXD TEXLOXS. 1S9 

large spot remained, however, on which the hair never grew 
out again. 

A fourth example will exhaust the space which can he 
given this suhject. A horse five years old, belonging to Mr. 
liohert Ferguson, of Cageville, Haywood County, Tenn. — 
at Avhich place the writer then resided — was afflicted with 
an enormously large fistula. The May-apple liniment was 
applied cautiously, in the manner prescribed in the foregoing 
pages, and with such happy results that in ten days the tumor 
had entirely disappeared. In this instance treatment began 
within three weeks after the swelling was first noticed. 

FORMER MODES OP TREATMENT. 

Fifteen or twenty years ago there were always to be found 
one or more cases of fistula upon nearly every plantation in 
Tennessee. In many instances the sufferer received no atten- 
tion whatever, or was given away at once as worthless. Com- 
parativelj' few planters were willing to run the risk of keeping 
a horse or a mule thus afflicted for months, or, perhaps, years, 
and meanwhile to undergo the constant and excessively disa- 
greeable labor of doctoring him according to the "barbarous 
practices of the times, only to have three chances out of five 
of losing him at last. At best, it was poor pay for hard 
work; for, even when cured, the horse remained greath' 
disfigured, with shoulders crestfallen and the neck always 
stifi". 

Arsenic was the specific generally relied upon. A deep 
gash was cut in the crown of the tumor, into which the 
arsenic was blown by means of a quill, when it was closed. 
The poison, readily taken up by the absorbents, soon aftected 
not only the fistula, but also the neighboring tendons and 
mnscles, forming an abscess, from which resulted, in the 
course of two or three months, a disgusting, running soi-e. 
Immense quantities of foul matter poured forth; the poison, 
far infused, ate away in all directions, and tendons, cartilages, 
and sometimes even bones, were utterly destroyed; it pene- 
trated to tlie vertebra, the crown or point of which (the 



190 a^ierica:?^ farmer's horse book. 

dorsal vcrfebra) crumbled away, and the skin snnk to the 
main bone of the back, leaving a hollow from four to six 
inches deep. As far as the poison spread, its ravages went 
on. At length its force was spent, the abscess closed, and 
the horse, with all his nnsightly deformities, and often with, 
mnch impaired vigor, was returned to service. If any ani- 
mal outlived the months or years of torture which this process 
occupied, it was because his vital energies were equal to 
almost any task which the heedless ignorance of man could 
impose upon them. 

Yet tliis picture, horrible as it is, fails to present in full 
the avN'ful consequences of this murderous system in many 
instances. The author has seen the whole line known as 
" the comb of the back-bone " so much eaten away that 
the vertebra points were exposed to full view, the sickening 
discharge of pus and blood, meanwhile, completing a spec- 
tacle almost incredible. Sometimes even the top of th.o 
blade and of the shoulder-bone became visible, and not un- 
frequenth' the fly- worm concluded the barbarous tragedy in 
the most revolting manner. 

Among other common methods of treating fistula were 
such as burning with a hot iron, scalding with the horn 
and hot mush of ashes, and running a small sharp-pointed 
iron, red-hot, entirely through the tumor; also, putting polk- 
root or corrosive sublimate into the swelling, with results 
nearly similar to those following the use of arsenic. 

It is impossible to recall these recollections without emo- 
tions of inexpressible horror and detestation; while, upon the 
other h,and, humanity must rejoice that a dispensation of such 
ignorance and cruelty has given place to an age of more 
enlightened an,d generous views concerning the needs and 
proper care of that noblest servant of man, the horse. 

POLL-EVIL. 

This is a tumor that comes on the head, or, more properly, 
upon the extreme forward part of the neck, just back of the 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 191 

ears. At this point the bones of the cranium connect with 
tliose of the neck, or cervical vertebrae. They are held by- 
very strong cartilages, upon both sides of the neck, but still 
more firmly by the remarkable tendon, or muscle, on top, 
called the serratus minor. (See section on the muscles and 
tendons, and also /, in sectional view of the head, in Chap- 
ter II.) By these means the head is supported and kept 
steady, and moved in nearly all directions with great facil- 
ity. From the appearance of the tumor nearly upon that 
part of the head called the "poll," the term "poll-evil" is 
used to describe this affection. A better one would be poll 
or head fistula; for the causes and symptoms of this pain- 
ful disease are precisely similar to those of fistula upon the 
withers. 

Between the serratus minor and the serratus major — the 
diflferent parts of the ivhitleather, described in the last sec- 
tion — there is naturally a most intimate connection and sym- 
pathy. It is almost impossible that one should be injured 
without the other having a share in the suffering produced; 
and it is a well-known fact that cases of poll evil, not unfre- 
quently, can be traced to no known cause, except sympathetic 
connection with fistulous withers. 

"When the horse is in sound health, an ordinary bruise on 
the poll generally produces no serious results ; but if the parts 
are in a feverish state, a slight blow may be followed by what 
is indeed an evil. Next to the shoulders and joints of the 
limbs, there is no portion of the horse's frame so severely 
taxed, during the animal's motion, as the muscles and ten- 
dons of this region. 

It is an exceedingly tender and sensitive point, and a blow 
from a careless or enraged attendant, may occasion grave con- 
sequences. If nothing worse happens, a knot, or lump, of 
considerable size, is pretty sure to betray the violence which 
has been employed, and will remain for some time. Such 
treatment may cause instant death. The author once saw 
an infuriated driver strike a large horse, with a club, on this 



192 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

part of the neck. The animal fell dead at his feet. The 
great spinal nerve was undoubtedly broken. 

Poll-evil does not often so seriously aifect the general 
health of the horse as does fistula, being further removed 
from those great vital organs, the lungs and heart; yet it 
is marked by great suffering, which the least observant spec- 
tator can not help perceiving. 

TREATMENT. 

Follow the same directions as those given in the last sec- 
tion for fistula. Before matter has formed, use the corrosive 
liniment; after that period, the May-apple liniment. The 
difiiculties attending the treatment of this disease are the 
same as those accompanying cases of fistula, and the same 
barbarous means were formerly employed for its cure. 

BOG AND BLOOD SPAVIN. 

Bog spavin has its location in the membrane investing the 
hock-joint, and in the little oil-sacks so plentifully supplied 
to this part of the horse's frame. Although at the expense 
of some repetition of what has been said in Chapter III, when 
treating of bone sj^avin, it will be best to consider the struct- 
ure of the joint, and the uses of these little oil-sacks, before 
proceeding further. 

The various joints of the body which are most in use and 
have the greatest degree of motion are furnished with large, 
strong tendons, as they obviously need to be. Attached to 
the extremities of the tendons, and between them and the 
bones, as also between the tendons themselves, are little bags, 
or sacks, containing an oily, mucous secretion, whose oflice it 
is to prevent friction when the parts are in rapid motion, or 
are otherwise severely strained. The tendons upon the inside 
of the hock, at the head of the inner splint-bone, and uniting 
the metatarsals (see 45 and 46, in cut on page 24) with the 
tibia (see 38 in same cut), are of unusual size and strength, in 
order to perform the severe labor to which they are subjected. 
It is reasonable to expect that here the oil-sacks should be 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 19;:i 

larger and more numerous than elsewhere, as here exists 
greater liability to friction than in any other joint in the 
whole body. Such we find to be the case. 

Violert exercise, unusual strains, and blows are liable to 
injure these sacks and cause them to enlarge. More fre- 
quently, however, they are ruptured, when their contents es- 
cape and form a puffy swelling under the skin and cellular 
tissues. To such accidents, those surrounding the hock-joint 
are peculiarly exposed; and, from their number and size at 
this spot, the consequences are at once more noticeable, and 
really much more serious than when the same things occur 
in other places. 

The oily, mucous secretions continue as before ; or, rather, 
they are increased in quantity, from the effort which Nature 
makes to repair damages and supply the deficiency in the lu- 
bricating material furnished the joint. But in this case !N^a- 
ture fails; for the oil-sacks never heal. There is a constant 
accumulation of the synovial fluid, and as constant a discharge 
into the spavin-bag, as it may be termed, under the skin. 
The enlargement increases to an extent and with a rapidity 
proportioned to the size and number of the oil-sacks wdiich 
have been ruptured. Sometimes the swelling makes surpris- 
ingly rapid progress, and in a short time encircles the entire 
joint. It always disfigures the horse very much, and has 
Deen known to grow as large as a man's head. In such cases 
the joint becomes so stiff as to be nearly useless, the play of 
tendons and muscles being prevented almost entirely. 

When a small vein is broken, and the blood mingles with 
the contents of the spavin-sack, the enlargement is called 
blood spavin. This is the only point in which this disease 
differs from ordinary bog spavin. 

Lameness is not always a consequence of these kinds of 
spavin, and especially when the swelling is small, exce})t 
in cases where the horse is very hard worked; and while 
they unquestionably constitute a form of unsoundness, a 
horse thus afllicted may do very well for ordinary service. 
He may work before the plow, or be hitched to a wagon or 
13 



194 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

to a carriage, when slow motion only is required ; but he will 
never do for rapid movement. Moderate exercise will not 
materially aggravate the disease. It will cause but little if 
any enlargement of the spavin-sack, and will not perma- 
nently increase the lameness. 

TREATMENT. 

Sometimes a local application of the corrosive liniment 
will prove beneficial in checking the accumulation of the oily 
fluid, and thus prevent the swelling from increasing. The 
spavin-sack, if very small, or in the first stages of the disease, 
may occasionally be dried up entirely, by the same means. 
The remedy is worth a trial. jSTot much confidence, however, 
can be placed in any course of treatment. The difficulty 
arises from the fact that the oil-sacks lie so deep, and are sur- 
rounded so closely by tendons, that no external application 
seems to reach them directly. As the disease does not en- 
tirely impair the animal's usefulness, and does not affect his 
general health, it wall rest entirely with the intelligent owner 
whether to attempt a cure or not, with the probability of a 
failure. 

The old and absurd practice of tapping the spavin-sack, 
which is thus transformed into a constantly-running and in- 
curable sore, must be discountenanced by ever}' well-informed 
person. We trust none of our readers wdll resort to it in 
any case. Better do nothing than be guilty of such folly. If 
the corrosive liniment does not effect a cure, no other remedy 
need be applied. 

WIND-GALLS. 

The little oil-sacks already described are most abundant 
about the hock, the ankle, and the knee, but are by no means 
confined to these localities ; next to which they are most nu- 
merous on the legs, below the knee and hock, and also upon 
the ankles. When those which are situated on the parts last 
named become ruptured, the swelling which results from the 
effusion of their contents under the skin, is called a uind-gall. 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 195 

This singularly inappropriate name had its origin in the fool- 
ish notion of the farriers, in former times, that the swelling 
was filled with air. 

In their nature and causes, wind-galls are thus seen to be 
the same disorder as spavin. But the oil-sacks which are 
injured in the former, are neither so large nor so numerous as 
in spavin ; and, more than this, such irritation and inflamma- 
tion as is constantly kept up at the joint by the movements 
of the limbs, scarcely aifect the parts where wind-galls ap- 
pear. Hence the latter never become at all serious affairs, 
and seldom impede motion in the least degree. They may 
possibly disfigure the limbs somewhat, and are often evidences 
of hard usage and bad treatment ; but, for every essential pur- 
pose, the horse is as good as before. When there are several 
of them, or if they become unusually large, it is generally an 
indication that the animal lacks suppleness of joint and limb, 
and will move heavily. Even in this case, however, he will 
do as well in the plow or wagon as ever he could. 

As we have intimated, wind-galls are caused by either a 
bruise or a very severe strain — most commonly the former. 
Such a degree of compression by the tendons as must be 
necessary to crush and burst open any of the oil-sacks, can 
only result from a most terrible strain ; and yet there can 
be no doubt that it is not unfrequently produced. It is easy 
to see that a comparatively light blow, directly upon the 
point where the sack is situated, resting upon the bone or 
a firm, unyielding tendon, may readily do the mischief. An 
Qgg, when the ends are placed between the palms of the 
hands, will bear a pressure of fifty pounds, yet a faint blow 
w^ill break the shell. So with the little oil-sack ; and hardly 
a day passes in which the legs of the horse do not receive 
blows, which, if the}^ fall upon the exact spot, are sufficient 
to do the injury. 

TREATMENT. 

Wind-galls are never removed without great difliculty, 
and often they defy the most persevering treatment. There 



196 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

is but one way of extermiaating them, and that is oy Duni 
ing the enlargement to a crisp with a red-hot iron. Thit: 
will be likely to dry up the water in them, and seal the 
fountains which supply it, and sometimes proves an eftectual 
cure. 

The old farriers always pursued this course ; but it is at- 
tended with great danger. The burning often induces an 
inflammation that eventually ruins the horse, especially when 
the swelling is near the joint. When inflammation from this 
cause is once fairly established, it generally terminates in an 
incurable ulcer. The morbid secretions and the disorganiza- 
tion of the tissues, whicli characterize this condition, no 
remedy seems sufliciently powerful to correct. Nor is this 
the only danger attending the operation of burning. "When 
the hot iron is applied to bunches on or near the joint, the 
inflammation, which nearly- always follows, is apt to prove of 
unusual severity, and the joint will become so badly stiffened 
that its use w^ill be destroyed forever afterward. "We can 
not advise this mode of treatment. Its extreme cruelty, 
coupled with the risk of ruining the horse for life, is more 
than suflicient to condemn it entirely. 

Some ignorant persons have tapped wind-galls " to let out 
the wind," and have been very much surprised to find a 
somewhat thick, yellowish fluid, exuding from the puncture, 
instead of air, and, to their still greater amazement, have 
found that they have opened a lountain which they were 
powerless to close. ISTor were these all their troubles. Sore- 
ness and inflammation have set in, and grown worse from 
day to day, and week to week. Very often they have learned, 
when too late, that they unwittingly ruined a valuable horse. 
In many instances, a large, ulcerous sore remains, which the 
practitioner's utmost skill can not heal over. 

The only remedy that we can recommend is the corrosive 
liniment, applied once a day for four or five days, and then 
omitted for the same length of time, and so continued to 
be used as long as necessary. The liniment should be well 
shaken before using, then applied with a little mop, and well 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 197 

dried in with a hot iron. This will frequently remove wind- 
galls, but not always. If the abscess containing the water 
is next to the skin, they can be cured without much diffi- 
culty; but when it is under the cellular membrane below 
the skin, as it more frequently is, external applications will 
not penetrate to them. 

It will hardly be worth the pains to attempt the removal 
of wind-galls, unless there is inflammation and lameness; 
in which case the liniment will take away the soreness, and 
should be applied at once. 

CURB. 

This is the name given an enlargement which sometimes 
occurs on the back of the leg, and a short distance below 
the hock. It is produced by a strain of the strong ligaments 
which are found at this part of the leg, or, perhaps, still more 
frequently, by a hard blow. In the former case, it makes 
its appearance after unusually severe exercise of some kind. 
The nature of the injury is very similar to that of enlarged 
hock, described in Chapter III. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment will be rest, and a persevering use of the 
corrosive liniment, as directed for enlarged hock. The horse 
will be badly lamed by curb, and must be put to work again 
with caution. 

THOROUGH-PIN. 

Another watery enlargement that comes on the back part 
of the hock-joint, inside of the os calcis, (see 39, in cut on 
page 24,) has received the name of thorough-pin. It extends 
entirely through the connecting membrane from side to side, 
and hence the flrst part of the name. But what resemblance 
it bears to a pin is by no means apparent. 

TREATMENT. 

Thorough-pin is of precisely the same nature as wind-galls 
and spavin, and will require the same general treatment. 



198 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



TETANUS, OR LOCK-JAW. 




A CASE OF TETANUS. 



With singular fidelity, the artist has here depicted a case 
of tetanus in the horse. Our readers will be well repaid for 
a careful study of this engraving. The points to be partic- 
ularly noticed are the rigidity of the muscles, and the stift- 
ness of the joints; the protrusion of the muzzle; the immo- 
bility of the ears ; the dilatation of the nostrils, with little 
or no pla}' ; the eye deeply withdrawn in the socket; the 
haggard, horror-struck expression of the countenance ; the 
tucking up of the belly from the extreme contraction of the 
abdominal muscles and diaphragm ; and the straddling pos- 
ture of the legs. 

Tetanus is one of the most dreadful of all the diseases 
which attack the horse. Fortunately, it is of comparatively 
rare occurrence in our countr}^ as is proven by the fact that 
thousands of persons, familiar with horses all their lives, 
have never seen a single case of it. In some European 
countries it has prevailed to a much greater extent, and has 
engrossed a large share of the veterinary surgeon's attention. 

The disease undoubtedly results from the lesion of some 
functional nerve, producing, more or less rapidly, extreme 
irritability of the entire nervous system, and terminating in 
+earful contractions and spasms of all the muscles in the 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 199 

body. The trouble originates, not in a nerve severed, but a 
nerve injured — bruised, lacerated, or torn. When a nervo 
is divided by a common, " clean " cut, its action is entirely' 
suspended, and, bye and bye, the parts heal over as naturally 
as ever. This takes place in all ordinary incised wounds, 
without producing any serious consequences. But when the 
nerve is torn or bruised, its action is increased; it becomes 
irritated and inflamed; and then, should there happen to be 
any predisposition to fever lurking in the system, there is 
great danger that tetanus will conclude the history of the 
case. "We are well satisfied that scarcely any possible injury- 
of the nerves will occasion lock-jaw when the general condi- 
tion of the animal is that of sound health and entire free- 
dom from fever. 

Let any horse, however, be exposed, and take cold, after 
an injury of one of the nerves, such as we have mentioned, 
and tetanus could not be courted more effectually. Of 
course, some degree of inflammation must follow the sever- 
ing or wounding of a nerve in any case; but if Nature had 
nothing more than this to overcome, with all the vital forces 
in perfectly healthful action, the trouble would very soon be 
over. If the inflammation, on the other hand, finds a co- 
operative agency ready to extend and aggravate it, as it 
dues when the blood is in a feverish state, it is carried rap- 
idly along tlie nervous pathway to the great sensorium of the 
body, the brain. From this it reacts in a terrible spasmodic 
action, in which the tension of the muscles and tendons, in 
every part and organ of the bod}', is so fearfully great that 
the horse dies at last, exhausted by hard work. During the 
progress of the disease, not only are the muscles and ten- 
dons more and more contracted, but the skin becomes tighter, 
the joints more stiftened, the breathing still more labored, 
and the power of motion less and less, until, finally, the poor 
sufterer falls to the ground, to rise no more. 

The symptoms of tetanus arc usually very obscure at the 
beginning. Were they recognized at the outset, there would 
eeldoni be any great difiiculty in applying eflectual treat- 



200 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

ment; but, imfortunately, they are apt to be overlooked, 
until the disease is so firmly rooted that remedies either can 
not be used at all, or utterly fail to meet the needs of the 
case. The disease first exhibits itself in the jaws, but soon 
extends to every part of the body. Its popular name by 
no means expresses all that it really is. It is no more an 
afltection of the jaws than it is of the head, the back, or the 
legs. 

In studying the character and developments of this malady, 
we have been glad to avail ourselves of the observations and 
researches of others, especially of recognized authorities in 
veterinary science in Europe, where it has challenged the 
practitioner's skill so much more than in this country. That 
excellent writer upon the horse, Mr. Youatt, says : 

" Tetanus is evidently an atfection of the nerves. A small 
fiber of some nerve has been injured, and the efl:ect of that 
injury has spread to the origin of the nerve; the brain then 
becomes affected, and universal diseased action follows. Te- 
tanus is spasm of the whole frame, not merely of one set of 
muscles, but of their antagonists also. * * *' Tetanus is 
usually the result of the injury of some nervous fiber, and 
the eft'ect of that lesion propagated to the brain. The foot 
is the most frequent source, or focus, of tetanic injury. It 
has been pricked in shoeing, or wounded by something on 
the road. The horse becomes lame; the injury is carelessly 
treated, or not treated at all; the lameness, however, dis- 
appears, but the wound has not healed. There is an un- 
healthiness about it, and, at the expiration of eight or ten 
days, tetanus appears. Some nervous fiber has been irritated 
or inflamed by the accident, slight as it was." 

In this country, lock-jaw generally proves fatal, not only 
from neglect in treating it until too late, but sometimes from 
the actual starvation of its victim. The owner seldom seems 
to consider that the poor animal needs food quite as much 
as when in health, or, perhaps, even more than at that time. 
Disease and the most exhausting form of muscular action 
are rapidly consuming his strength, while the stomach and 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 201 

other digestive organs are but little affected. lu all proba- 
bility many horses die from tetanus that might be saved if, 
in connection with the treatment pursued, some nutritious 
food could be introduced into his stomach. A horse with 
lock-jaw will manifest the strongest symptoms of hunger, 
and should be fed every two or three hours at least. This 
may be done by placing before him a tub or bucket of thick 
meal gruel. He will at once try to suck some of it into his 
mouth, and will actually swallow a little of it, from time to 
time. There will be no harm in keeping it before him con- 
stantly, if he seems to desire it. 

TREATMENT. 

Bleed freely from the neck vein ; it is the only hope in a 
case of tetanus. The blood-vessels and nerves are distrib- 
uted throughout the body side by side, and closely sympa- 
thize with each other. The blood must be depleted, and to 
do this is to relax the nerves, and also the muscles through 
which the nerves ramify. 

Let the blood continue to flow as long as the horse can 
bear it. It is useless to hope for a cure if this essential part 
of the treatment is not properly attended to. In most cases, 
it will be best to open the vein, and let the blood run until 
the pulse grows perceptibly fainter ; then to remove the finger 
or the cord from the neck for fifteen or twenty minutes, or 
until the pulse rises and the vein becomes full. ISTow let 
the blood flow a second time as long as at first. This may 
be repeated three or four times, when the jaws and the 
muscles generally will begin to relax. At first the blood is 
thick, and its feeble stream is drawn chiefly from the im- 
mediate region of the brain, while the vessels of the extremi- 
ties react but slowly. They are allowed time for this, how- 
ever, by these temporary suspensions of the arterial flow; and 
there is another great advantage in following this course, 
from the fact that it prevents drawing away so much blood 
from the vein as to overpower the vital energies of the horse. 
Jf the blood is allowed to run without any intermission until 



202 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

lie falls, there is great danger that, with his stiflened limbs 
and set joints, he will never rise again. The method of 
bleeding which we recommend obviates the difficulties which 
attend the ordinary course, as it relaxes the system, while the 
action of the vital forces remains uninterrupted. 

The nerves must now be tranquilized by powerful opiates, 
and further relaxation eflected by the use of physics. A 
half gill of laudanum is not a large dose in this case. Mix 
this with half a pound of salts, dissolved in a pint of warm 
water. Next, get a horn, open at both ends, and, inserting 
the small end into the horse's mouth, between the front and 
back teeth, turn the mixture very slowly down his throat. 
At the end of six hours, give half of the above dose of salts 
in the same way. Use every exertion to secure an operation 
of the bowels as soon as possible. Give one quart of corn- 
meal gruel, as a clyster, every five or six hours. This will 
also aftbrd nearly as much nutriment to the system as if it 
were received into the stomach. Keep a soft bran-mash or 
thick meal gruel before him, as before directed. 

Treatment of another character should next be applied. 
Put a pint of spirits of camphor and half a gill of tobacco- 
juice in a gallon of warm water, and in this boil a peck of 
oats or coarse bran. Have them in a bag, so that they will 
be loose, and, after boiling for fifteen minutes, apply the bag 
to the horse's throat, as hot as he can bear it. Fasten it on 
over the top of the head, so that he can not get it ofl", or, 
if necessary, his head may be tied. At the same time spread 
a good, large blanket or quilt over him, and fasten it. This 
course will generally throw the horse into a fine perspira- 
tion, which will be one great point gained. Change the 
poultice every six hours for two days, and continue to keep 
him well covered with the blanket or quilt. 

If these directions are faithfully carried out, the horse will 
probably recover, unless he is suffered to starve to death. A 
cure is quite easy if the disease be attacked at an early 
stage. 

AVe may add another simple method of treating tetanus, 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 203 

without vouching for its effectiveness, as we never had an 
opportunity of testing it. It is to take the scab from the 
fore-leg of the horse and pulverize it very fine. This is done 
by rubbing it on a coarse file. Put a tea-spoonful of this in 
each ear of the horse, and dust a little up his nose. This, 
it is said, will so operate upon his nerves and brain that he 
will lie down and go to sleep ; and, after remaining thus for 
about half an hour, he will get up, apparently well, and with 
his muscles relaxed, and will then commence eating. We 
know that this scab contains a powerful narcotic principle, 
and as the authority for its use in lock-jaw was among the 
best at the South, it will be worth a trial at least. 

A REMARKABLE CASE. 

While the author was engaged in the preparation of this 
work, he was called upon to treat the most remarkable case 
of tetanus that was ever brought to his notice. It occurred 
iu the village of Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky, in 
August, 1866. A young mare, the property of Mr. H. 
McWithy, and only partially broken, was put into the hands 
of a wagon-driver, during some of the hottest days of the 
season, to gentle before the wagon. She was very fat, and 
had been worked but little before. Although herself quite 
small, her companion was a very large, strong horse, and the 
labor to which she was put — hauling logs — was altogether 
too hard for her. 

One day we were summoned in haste to come and see her, 
as she had the lock-jaw. Her condition was pitiable indeed — 
the jaws firmly set, every muscle in the body drawn to its 
utmost tension, and the limbs so stiffened that she could 
move them only with the utmost difficulty. It was a case 
of tetanus, resulting from a rare cause, and one not men- 
tioned in any work upon the horse. We shall describe the 
case and its treatment with some minuteness, as its history 
may be the means of saving the life of a valuable horse for 
the reader. 
*" The primary cause of the attack was undonbtedly a diead- 



204 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

ful over-heating, by which the adipose matter in the body 
had become softened — almost melted — and, settling down 
upon the nerves and blood-vessels, had produced suspension 
of nervous action, and a fearful congestion of the circulation. 
Every nerve was fully set, and every muscle and tendon con- 
tracted to its utmost. Her jaws were not only fixed, but 
were so much drawn that to swallow was impossible. Med- 
icines, abundant and powerful, were within easy reach ; but 
of what avail was this when not a thimbleful could be made 
to reach her stomach by any means? It was evident that 
she could stand upon her feet but a little while longer, and, 
if once down, she would never rise again. Unless relief 
could be given at once, she could not live more than from 
four to six hours at farthest. Her pulse was hard, corded, 
and fearfully accelerated, beating about seventy-three to the 
minute. Now what was to be done ? "We resorted to " the 
vile practice " of bleeding, and are willing to compare results 
with either any opposer or abuser of the system. 

The neck vein having been opened, half a gallon of blood 
was permitted to run, when she appeared weak, and the 
stream was stopped. The blood was the thickest and black- 
est we ever saw drawn, except in some cases of big head, 
and for some minutes came very slowly, although the incis- 
ion was a large one. Her faintness from the loss of so little 
blood was surprising; but this was in consequence of drain- 
ing so much from the immediate region of the brain, while 
the general circulation, as yet, had hardly been aflfected. In 
this short time the pulse had become soft and flabby, though 
its rapidity was not diminished. Some of the bystanders 
said, " "Why do you stop so soon ? Bleed her until she 
faints." But we knew better what was the proper course. 
Had she fallen, while in tliis condition, she would have lain 
there until dragged away to her burying-place. Our object 
was to relax the system gradually, without overpowering the 
vital energies, as excessive bleeding, at this stage of the dis- 
ease, would most certainly have done. 

In about twenty minutes she rallied, and the arterial flow 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TEXDOXS. 205 

became fuller and stronger. The vein was now reopened by 
tightening the cord, and again as much blood drawn as be- 
fore. For four successive times a half gallon of blood was 
thus taken away, the animal seeming stronger at the conclu- 
sion of the operation than at its commencement. In fact, 
after the first bleeding, she showed no sign of faintness or 
faltering. By this time the jaws had relaxed so that they 
could be pulled open half an inch. All this consumed about 
an I'our and a half. 

But the dependence was not wholly upon bleeding. WJiile 
this had been going on, a large, thick woolen blanket was 
brought, and, after having been wet in cold water, was spread 
over her whole hody. Twenty bucketfuls of cold water 
were then poured upon her. Instead of killing her, as some 
might imagine it would have done, this proved of the greatest 
benefit. It cooled her system, and caused the adipose matter, 
or fat, to harden and contract; and thus the nerves and blood 
vessels were allowed space for their proper play again. 

In three hours her jaws were so much relaxed that, by 
considerable eflTort, she was able to swallow. A fourth of a 
pound of salts and a gill of laudanum were given, while the 
same amount of salts was used as a clyster. During the 
bleeding, her pulse fell from seventy-three to sixty. She re- 
mained under the author's treatment for two days, when she 
was taken home, a distance of two miles. In due time she 
entirely recovered, and at the date of this writing — two 
months afterward — she remains as well as ever. 

CRAMPS. 

A few horses are subject to cramp. This is i,,.. irritability 
and involuntary spasm of a particular muscle, or set of mus- 
cles, and is caused by a strain, a bruise, or some similar in- 
jury. Horses whose energies have been overtaxed by severe 
pulling and straining during the day, and who are compelled 
to stand all night in a narrow stall, are very likely to sufler 
from cramp in the legs. When the horse tries to move, 
the muscles, having become stifi^' and inflexible, refuse to act 



-06 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

for awhile, until the nervous energy is restored; and then 
they exhibit a spasmodic overaction that produces cramp. 
The horse seems utterly powerless to control their action, 
and they jerk and twitch in a most singular manner. The 
circulation, which has been partially suspended, is soon re- 
stored by this exercise, and as the parts become w^armed the 
muscles relax, and their pliancy and elasticity return. 

Cramping seems to be a species of temporary rheumatism. 
It is ver}' painful, and often leaves lameness and great sore- 
ness behind it. When this is the case, no pains should be 
spared to find the affected part, which may be done by press- 
ing upon the muscles of the legs with the hand. The horse 
wnll wince when the tender spot is touched. 

.; TREATMENT. 

Bleed once, taking away three quarts of blood. "Wash the 
parts well with salt and water, and rub them for some time 
with the hand or a rough cloth. When dry, apply the cor- 
rosive liniment once. 

RHEUMATISM. 

Very few persons are aware how frequently this disease at- 
tacks the horse. Even among professional veterinarians it 
has received but little attention. Yet many instances of 
lameness have occurred — cases in which the horse apparently 
suffered excruciating pain, and was barely able to move his 
limbs at all — that could be referred to no other possible 
cause. There is no reason w^hatever why the horse's frame 
should be exempt from rheumatism any more than the hu- 
man. The physiology of the two are very much alike, and 
exposure or bad treatment will be as likely to bring it on in 
one as in the other. 

Old horses are those most subject to rheumatism, especially 
w^hen they have been abused or very hard worked. It rarely 
occurs among younger animals, unless their energies have 
been greatl}'- overtaxed. Yet exposure and severe usage do not 
appear to be the only causes of rheumatism. The lean horse, 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 207 

if otherwise in good condition, is very seldom among its victims. 
It is the horse well-fed, plethoric, fat, and sleek that is often- 
ost attacked. The immediate cause of the disease is obstruc- 
tion of the circulation. It is always an evidence that the blood 
is too abundant and too thick, as well as too sluggish and 
irregular in its flow, from which condition proceeds nervous 
irritability, in the flrst instance, and next rheumatism, which 
is but one form of this nervous disturbance localized. Te- 
tanus is an aggravated and general development of the same 
functional derangements. 

Rheumatism afiects the tendons and joints, and is accom- 
panied by terrible inflammation and lameness. Although the 
hips and shoulders are its favorite points of attack, the knees 
and all the joints of the legs sometimes suffer from it. Cramp 
is but a milder form of the same disease — a brief, spasmodic 
rheumatism. 

Many other diseases are liable to be confounded with rheu- 
matism. Stiff complaint, so called, is but the general effects 
of rheumatism located in the joints — in tact, become chronic. 
On the other hand, many cases which have been doctored as 
colic or founder have really been acute attacks of this dis- 
order. 

REMARKABLE CASES. 

Although our space is limited, perhaps we can not do better 
than devote two or three pages to the narration of two re- 
markable cases which the writer treated some years since. 
They show how easy and common it is for the uninformed 
to make mistakes in the diagnosis of rheumatism. 

A gentleman named Ilardison, residing in Middle Ten- 
nessee, brought his family upon a visit to some friends in 
Gibson County, in the same State. The distance was about 
one hundred and fifty miles, which he drove with his family 
horse, in a carriage. She was a large mare, unusually full 
and plethoric, and plainly showed the good usage which she 
had been accustomed to receive. Unless in this journey, her 
strength had not been at all overtaxed; but for some time 
previous to making the trip she had been exercised but little. 



208 AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

One moriiiug, after having been driven about half a mile 
from the friend's house where Mr. Hardison was stopping, 
and while still before the buggy, she was taken suddenly ill. 
She seemed scarcely able to stand upon her feet ; she trembled 
all over; great drops of sweat rolled dow^n her sides, and in 
twenty minutes she was wet with perspiration. Her appear- 
ance and motions indicated the most intense suffering, and 
she seemed unwilling to let her feet touch the ground, as if 
it gave her great pain. Yet there was an equal disinclina- 
tion to lie down. Standing with her back roached up, and 
the most imploring look possible, she was a spectacle to ex- 
cite the deepest feelings of compassion. 

With the bystanders, this was plainly an attack of hots — 
an opinion in which they were confirmed by the manner 
in rvhich she kept putting her head around to her sides 
and fore-legs, and by the continual jerking of the mnscles 
and skin of those parts. As there was no swelling of the 
abdomen, it could not be colic. 

To the author, however, these symptoms indicated some- 
thing entirely different. A gallon of blood was accordingly 
drawn from the neck, and some salts and laudanum were 
given her, and in two hours she was relieved. 

If the question is asked, Wh}^ give this as a case of rheu- 
matism, when the attack was so sudden? it might be replied 
that the latter did not pass oft' so suddenly, for it was two 
months before the mare regained the use of her limbs sufii- 
ciently to be taken home. It was undoubtedly a severe case 
of spasmodic rheumatism, whose surprisingly rapid devel- 
opment proceeded from causes, in all probability, long pre- 
existing. This example shows what a terrible enginery of de- 
struction disease may sometimes plant in the system entirely 
unsuspected. 

The animal had seemingly been in the best of health, and 
was only sick about two hours; yet she became very much 
reduced, and it required six months to remove all traces of the 
attack. Her legs, shoulders, and hips were stift' and sore for 
months. It may be seriously questioned whether she ever 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 209 

became quite as souucl and active as before, or whether she 
was as well able to withstand another assault of the same 
disease. 

lu the winter of 1858-9, while traveling in the northern 
part of Alabama, the writer encountered another case, which, 
although very similar to the preceding, presented other fea- 
tures so instructive that we shall give it in full also. 

Our place of entertainment for the night happened to be 
at one of the drovers' stands common in those parts — resting- 
places for the accommodation of the numerous droves of 
horses and mules on their way from the great stock-raising 
regions of Kentucky and Tennessee, to the cotton districts 
of the South. Here we met the worst case of rheumatism 
our eyes ever rested on. The victim was a fine young horse, 
about six years of age, purchased in "Williamson County, 
Tennessee. He had been trained for the saddle exclusively, 
never having been hitched in harness ; had been moderately 
used, and always well treated. For the preceding seven or 
eight days he had run loose in the drove, traveling in this 
manner only about twenty miles a day. 

Soon after reaching our stopping-place, we learned that a 
horse was coming very sick with either colic or founder, and 
presently he made his appearance. Certainly he was as 
pitiable an object as we ever saw — his belly tucked up, his 
back humped, his feet drawn under him, and his expression 
indescribably woe-begone. He, too, was disinclined to lie 
down, but finally did so, by giving entirely away and falling 
to the ground. The groans which followed this performance 
were perfectly heart-rending. AVe never heard such from 
any other animal before or since. 

What had brought on the attack? The horse was young, 
very fat, and, until a very few hours before, had been in ex- 
cellent health. The day was moderately cool, so that he 
could not have become overheated; nor had he either eaten 
or drank too frequently. There was no cause for founder. 
Examination showed, too, that it was not the feet so much 
as the knees and shoulders that were tender and sore. As 
14 



210 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

for bots, the author of this work had been for years defending 
that inoffensive little creature from the charge of killing the 
liorse, satisfactory reasons being apparent for believing him 
entirely innocent of the crime. It was not a case of colic, for 
the symptomatic indications of intestinal disorder were lacking. 

Treatment was applied as for rheumatism. It was success- 
ful. Bleeding was the first step, a gallon of blood being 
drawn from the overloaded vessels. Then another of the best 
of remedies for the horse was administered as a drench — one 
quart of salt and water, as hot as it could be swallowed. The 
legs were freely bathed with the same mixture. In one hour 
the sufferer was greatly better, and seemed nearly free from 
pain. But a year later he had not entirely outworn the ef- 
fects of this dreadful attack. 

This, also, was a case of spasmodic rheumatism. Yet a 
degree of mystery attaches to it. An attack so fearful as to 
leave behind its brief duration of four hours such evil conse- 
quences, did not spring up in a few hours or a day. Its 
causes must have been in existence for weeks, or probably even 
for months before, the disease, meanwhile, continually accu- 
mulating its forces, until, at last, it suddenly overpowered the 
vital energies and prostrated the horse's strength completeh'. 

But are there no premonitory symptoms to indicate the 
approach of so terrible a foe ? Sometimes there are, but 
more frequently there are not. Unfortunatel}", remedies can 
be prescribed more easily than preventives ; yet considerable 
may be done, in a general wa}', in the latter direction. Light, 
moist food, a good pasture, or any relaxing diet, by keeping 
the blood thin, will tend to the prevention of rheumatism ; 
while dry, hard food, such as heats the blood, and makes it 
thick and dark, will be likely to bring it on. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment has been sufiiciently indicated in the history 
of the case last given. It consists in bleeding from the neck 
vein, and the free use of salt and hot water, both internally 
and to bathe the affected parts. 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AXD TENDONS. 211 

SPASMS. 

Perhaps few affections are so common among horses as 
spasms, and yet no veterinar^^ writer has thought proper to 
introduce them in his classification of diseases. The reason 
probably is, that, although well-known to all who possess 
any familiarity with the ailments of horse-flesh, they so often 
occur in connection with other diseases that they have been 
regarded as merely symptomatic in all cases. But sometimes 
we find them entirely disconnected with any other disorder, 
under circumstances that forbid the intelligent practitioner 
referring them to any local affection. 

Spasms may be of three kinds — of the nerves, the muscles, 
or the skin. Although only the second of these properly be- 
longs to this chapter, it will be most convenient to consider 
all of them in this connection. A minute description of each 
IS a task not without some difficulty. Yet, where is the far- 
mer that has not witnessed spasms of the muscles? For a 
few minutes they contract violently, with sudden jerks ; then 
the spasm passes away, leaving the animal apparently as well 
as ever. 

Nervous spasms are still more common. The horse sud- 
denly becomes much agitated, trembles all over, and has a 
wild, frightened look, when there is not the least sign of 
any cause of alarm. For a few moments his verj^ frame 
shakes with excitement; but this passes off presently, and he 
becomes perfectly tranquil again. Such a case is plainly 
nothing else than one manifestation of nervous disturbance, 
in which alone all his disquiet and fears have their origin. 

Every one knows that in human pathology nervous people 
are usually very fearful, always imagining something wrong, 
or some danger near. It is precisely the same with the horse. 
Many a poor animal has been adjudged to be vicious, and has 
received terrible beatings for his unaccountable excitement, 
his reluctance to move, or his supposed perversity, when all 
this was the result simply of nervous derangement, manifested 
in the form of spasms, which affected the whole body. 



212 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Such a condition is generally produced by there being too 
much blood in the system, and that too thick. jSTervous 
power is largely concerned in carrying on the circulation, 
and, when the blood is in this state, must be overtaxed at 
times. Hence these phenomena, which appear so singular 
to the horse's driver. 

TREATMENT. 

Do not be such an ignoramus as to beat your horse when 
he is suffering from a nervous spasm. Nearly always it is 
something that your own negligence or bad management 
has brought on, and is really less chargeable to the horse than 
to yourself or his keeper. Try the effects of habitual kind- 
ness and gentleness, if your horse is subject to such attacks, 
and, our word for it, you will see a marked and constantly 
increasing change for the better in a very short time. 

If the spasm, of whatever kind, is a severe one, resort must 
be had to bleeding. Many an excitable, fractious horse will 
become perfectly quiet and tractable if a gallon of blood be 
drawn from the overloaded vessels. It will seldom be neces- 
sary, however, to take so much as this in a simple case of 
spasms. Relax the system by giving light, soft diet. This 
does not mean, however, that you shall starve your horse into 
weakness and languor. 

STRING-HALT, OR SPRING-HALT. 

Every member of the body has its appropriate nerve, with- 
out whose prompting it could not move. The hips and hind 
legs arc given power and motion through the agency of the 
sciatic nerve, a branch given off by the spinal cord in the 
reo:ion of the lumbar vertebrae. It is this nerve which most 
anatomists consider the seat of that singular derangement 
which produces string-halt. 

The disease is a familiar one. Instead of a suspension of 
the nervous and muscular energy, it is an overaction of both; 
80 that whenever the horse attempts to lift his hind legs, they 
move by a sudden spasmodic jerk, and are caught up much 
higher than is natural. In extreme cases, they are sometimes 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 213 

thrown fairly up against the belly, and with some force. The 
muscles are but the servants of the nerves, and only exhibit 
the contractions and jerks that are communicated to them 
by their superiors. 

A celebrated horse in England, that had been afflicted with 
string-halt in its most aggravated form, was dissected by 
Professor Spooner, of the Royal Veterinarj^ College, with a 
view to gaining some light upon the causes of this disease. 
The result of the examination has been given, as follows : 

"On taking oft" the skin, all the muscles presented their 
perfect health}^ character. There was not the slightest en- 
largement or discoloration of the fasciae. The muscles of 
both extremities were dissected from their origins to their 
tendinous terminations, and their fibrous structure carefully 
examined. They were all beautifully developed, presenting 
no inequality or irregularity of structure, nor aught that 
would warrant the suspicion that any one of them possessed 
an undue power or influence beyond the others. The only 
abnormal circumstance about them was, that they were of a 
rather darker yellow^ in color than is usually found. This 
referred to them generally, and not to an}' particular muscle 
or sets of muscles. 

"The lumbar, crural, and sciatic nerves were examined 
from the spot at which they emerge from the spinal cord to 
their ultimate distributions. The crural and lumbar nerves 
were perfectly healthy. The sciatic nerve, at the aperture 
through which it escapes from the spine, was darker in color 
than is usual, being of a yellowish-brown hue. Its texture 
was softened, and its fibrillse somewhat loosely connected to- 
gether. The nerve was of its usual size ; but on tracing it in 
its course through the muscles of the haunch, several spots 
of ecchymosis presented themselves, and were more particu- 
larly marked on that part of the nerve which is connected 
with the sacro-sciatic ligament. As the nerve approached 
the hock, it assumed its natural color and tone ; and the 
fibers given oft' from it to the muscles situated inferior to the 
stifle-joint were of a perfectly healthy character. 



214 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

"On dissecting out a portion of the nerve where it ap- 
peared to be in a diseased state, it was found that this ecchy- 
mosis was confined to the membriiious investiture of the 
nerve, and that its substance, when pressed from its sheath, 
presented a perfectly natural character. 

"The cavity of the cranium and the whole extent of the 
spinal canal, were next laid open. The brain and the spinal 
marrow were deprived of their membranous coverings, and 
both the thecse and their contents diligently examined. There 
was no lesion in any part of them, not even at the lumbar 
region. 

" The articulations of every joint of the hind extremities 
then underwent inspection, and no disease could be detected 
in either of them. 

" Professor Spooner was of opinion that this peculiar affec- 
tion was not referable to any diseased state of the brain or 
spinal cord, nor to any local affection of the muscles of the 
limbs, but simply to a morbid affection of the sciatic nerve. 
He had not dissected a single case of string-halt in which he 
had not found disease of this nerve, which mainly contributes 
to supply the hind extremities with sensation and the power 
of voluntary action." 

String-halt is seldom sufficiently aggravated to prove a 
serious detriment to the horse's qualifications for service. 
The ungainly and even ludicrously awkward appearance 
which the gait presents, constitutes the only objection in most 
instances. But we regard it as a great mistake to consider 
this peculiarity an indication of unusual power. It is an evi- 
dence, rather, of bad treatment. The horse has been strained, 
at some time or other, and the injury then sustained by his 
muscles has reacted upon the important sciatic nerve. 

TREATMENT. 

Bleed moderately, taking not to exceed three pints of 
blood, and repeat the operation at the end of ten days. Ap- 
ply about a table-spoonful of the corrosive liniment to that 
part of the hip in immediate connection with the spine, and 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TEXDOXS. 215 

also to the back part of the foot. Keep both the hip and the 
heel constantly sore with the liniment for at least a month, 
using it daily. 

This treatment, with the addition of three or four doses of 
"jimson" seed, cured one of the worst cases of stringhalt 
we ever saw. 



216 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 

As all the unfavorable external influences to which the 
horse is exposed first come in contact with the skin, we can 
readily understand why it should so frequently be the seat 
of disease. When we consider the dreadful treatment to 
which the poor animal is often subjected, it seems a wonder 
that the case is not worse than it is. But the peculiar struc- 
ture of the skin, as already described in the appropriate sec- 
tion of Chapter II, in a great degree protects him from in- 
jury, and wards off many of the effects of exposure and bad 
treatment. 

The various affections of the horse's skin have received 
different names according to their localities, and the different 
phases which they assume. There is a great sameness in 
the general symptoms of most of them, as well as in their 
causes and treatment. They may all be embraced in two 
classes: First, those which proceed from bad treatment; 
second, those which are the result of constitutional tenden- 
cies. The first of these classes embraces by far the larger pro- 
portion of them. One of its most characteristic representa- 
tives is the disease called 

SCRATCHES, 

Universally known and dreaded as this is by all American 
horsemen, it seems to be a stranger to the English veterina- 
rians ; at least, it is not mentioned by any of them so far as 
we have any knowledge. It makes its appearance on the 
back part of the foot, extending from the heel to the fetlock, 
and much oftener on the hind than on the fore-feet. In ex- 
treme cases, it has been known to extend upward on the 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 217 

leg to the joints of the knee and hock, and around to the 
front of the foot, so as to entirely encircle it. It begins with 
a thick, dry, scabby covering of the skin, coming in little 
patches upon the different parts of the heel, which continue 
tc spread until they unite in one solid mass of scab and 
matted hair. 

These scabs present a diflerent appearance from those which 
occur in any other disease of the skin or legs. They possess 
an uncommon itchiness, which impels the horse to keep rub- 
bing the parts, if it is possible for him to do so, very often 
until they are raw and bleeding. This is the origin of the 
name — Scratches. 

The cause of this disease is undoubtedly bad treatment or 
improper stable management. Let the horse habitually stand 
in filth and mire when in service, or on piles of hot and steam- 
ing manure in his stall, and the skin will become scalded and 
scabby, and, before the negligent keeper is aware, scratches 
be fully developed. This end will be much hastened by a bad 
state of the system — impure blood, derangement of the diges- 
tive functions, and general feverishness. It often happens 
that when other diseases are pressing upon the vital energies 
of the horse, this annoyance follows in the train of his mis- 
fortunes. But these other diseases are usually of those types 
which are superinduced by the bad management before ad- 
verted to. Foul air and filth have poisoned the blood and 
rendered the entire system an easy prey to the first deter- 
mined assault of any of them. While the horse may be very 
thin from both poverty and disease, without having scratches, 
when these causes are combined with standing in filth and 
mud, or on a great heap of soft, decomposing manure, it 
will be a wonder of he escapes this pest. The horse that 
stands in a dry stable, in a clean and well-kept stall, will 
rarely indeed be troubled with scratches. 

TREATMENT 

If the horse is in bad condition and thin in flesh, bleed 
from the neck vein; but should he be weak and feeble, only 



218 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

a small quantity — not more than about three pints — of blood 
must be taken at first, and ten days later, as much more 
If his strength has not been reduced, it may do to bleed but 
once, then taking three quarts of blood. In case his general 
health is vigorous, it will not be necessary to resort to bleed- 
ing at all. But this condition will rarely be found in con- 
nection with scratches. 

The remedy to be applied is as nearly infallible as any 
thing possibly can be. The corrosive liniment will cure the 
disease in every stage, and in every condition of the system, 
and under almost any circumstances. Apply it with a little 
mop, shaking it up well before using. Turn out about a 
table-spoonful of it in an earthen cup, and with the mop 
saturate the affected parts thoroughly. Use the liniment for 
four days ; then omit for two days, and use again. The hot 
iron need not be employed to dry it in, as this is one of the 
cases in which it has more effect while on the surface. 

Keep the horse out of the wet while applying the liniment, 
or it will do him little good. Feed light; and if it is the 
time of pasture, he will need no other diet. In winter, give 
as much green, soft food as can be procured. 

THRUSH. 

This disease is characterized by a continuous discharge of 
very offensive matter from the frog and heel of the foot. 
The cleft of the frog is from one-fourth to one-half an inch 
in depth. The exudation of purulent matter from this re- 
gion sometimes continues for a long time before the inatten- 
tive owner becomes aware of it. When thrush has an in- 
dependent existence as a local disease, it is generally the con- 
sequence of standing in a damp, wet stable; or it may be 
produced by injuries of the frog. There is no disease of the 
horse's foot but may be, and often is, the cause of thrush. 

It is the result of gross negligence and mismanagement 
in the large majority of cases. It would be a rare vis- 
itant of our stables if they Avere kept cleaner and dryer. 
The cavalry horse seldom has it, and there is no reason what- 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 219 

ever why the farmer should eueouuter it any more frequently 
than the trooper. We trust that to few of our readers the 
foUoAving advice will be applicable, but those to whom it is 
can not act upon it too promptly : Throw out the great piles 
of manure that have been accumulating in your stable, and 
hi which your horse has been so long standing, to the great 
detriment of his health and vigor, and, instead, give him a 
good bed of dry straw or sawdust. Do this, and you need have 
little fear of being compelled to undergo the trouble or an- 
noyance of treating any cases of this disease. 

TREATMENT. 

The corrosive liniment will prove as efficacious for thrush 
as it is for scratches, if the affection is local and independent 
of any other. If some other disease of the foot has caused 
it, cure that first. The liniment should be applied by wet- 
ting a little string of tow or piece of cloth with it, and press- 
ing this into the cleft of the frog and the corresponding part 
of the heel. Do this at night, and remove the tow or cloth 
the next morning. Thus continue as long as may be neces- 
sary, with intervals of omission every third or fourth day. 

V 

CRACKED HEELS, OR GREASE. 

This is but another form of the disease, two of whose 
developments we have already considered. It more nearly 
resembles thrush, however, than it does scratches. It is en- 
tirely confined to the back part of the foot, called the heel — 
a locality that scratches attack much less frequently, but 
which is the exact seat of thrush. In respect to the puru- 
lent exudations by which it is accompanied, it is still more 
like the latter. 

Some other, and perhaps more obscure, disease of the foot 
is very commonly the origin of this. In numerous instances, 
it is not a local disease, but an oozing out through the pores 
of the skin of a thin matter from some deeper-seated ulcera- 
tion, generally that attending the disease of either the coffin or 
the navicular joint, which has been described in Chapter IV. 



220 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

In most of these cases, the joint last named is the part really 
affected. But the mischief very often flows from the same 
external causes referred to in the last two sections — improper 
stable management, and permitting the horse to stand habit- 
ually in wet and filth, or on a mass of rotting straw, saturated 
Avith the highly alkaline urine. 

It is an established fact in the pathology of diseases, whether 
of man or beast, that the same causes acting upon the physical 
system, under different circumstances, may produce quite 
different results. Hence arises the fact that many diseases 
belonging to the same class, yet more or less varied in their 
developments, and designated by totally different names, are 
often traceable to precisely the same origin. Why this pecul- 
iar form of disease in the horse's foot should be called "grease," 
to the exclusion of others of a very similar appearance, is 
not apparent from any pathological considerations. The 
same purulent matter is given forth in thrush and foot-evil 
as in this. These diseases are evidently most closely related. 
They manifest the same, or nearly the same, symptoms ; they 
often run into each other, and may have exactly the same 
causes; and the same treatment cures them. One common 
title, therefore, might be applied to all of them with perfect 
propriety ; but, for the sake of distinction and greater clear- 
ness, they are variously named according to their most promi- 
inent and distinctive symptoms. The most striking pecu- 
liarity of this disease, and the only one which marks the 
Doundary between it and the others, is the cracked, open 
heel. Throughout this work, therefore, it will be called 
"cracked heels." It will be of decided advantage for our 
agricultural and veterinar}^ writers to accept this American 
name, and drop the vague term of English farriers, "grease." 

In the horse's heel, the skin has one peculiarity not dis- 
coverable in any other part of the body. In its healthy state 
there is a constant secretion and discharge of an oily fluid 
from the cellular tissues underneath. This lubricates the much 
exposed surface, and keeps it soft and pliable. It also pre- 
vents the skin from becoming dry and hard, as well as from 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 221 

cracking or chapping, which it is very apt to do. Many 
causes may operate to obstruct the flow of this oily fluid until 
it ceases altogether. When this occurs, the skin becomes 
dry and feverish, with a scurfy, red, and angry appearance. 
Presently cracks begin to show themselves, from which the 
long-pent-up oil secretions commence to run; but instead of 
being a soft, oily lubricator, it is now changed to a foul, yel- 
lowish water. If the disease is allowed to run on, the entire 
heel is transformed into an ulcerated mass of fungous ex- 
crescences. The flow of matter increases, and it becomes 
more and more thick, sticky, and offensive. Such a develop- 
ment marks the disease as entirely local, and originating iu 
entirely local causes. 

Cracked heels is not contagious, as many have supposed; 
yet if one horse has it, the others in the same stable are very 
likely to exhibit the same condition, sooner or later, because 
the surroundings of all are nearly identical. Like causes 
produce like eft'ects. A wet, foul stable, or muddy stable- 
lot, will be as likely to give this disease to one horse as to 
another. 

TREATMENT. 

As before intimated, the treatment necessary is similar to 
that for scratches and thrush. The persevering use of the 
corrosive linim.cnt will cure this disease without fail, if ac- 
companied by a reasonable degree of care and attention. 
When the trouble is first discovered, a few applications will 
be sufficient to remove it. But if the case is one of long 
standing, it will prove extremely obstinate; for, by this time, 
not only will the heels have become badly cracked and a 
fungous growth have made its appearance, but the general 
health of the horse will have suffered materially. 

Bleeding will not be required unless the horse is thin in 
flesh, and in a low state of health from the eflfects of the dis- 
ease, in which case bleed once from the neck vein, taking 
two quarts of blood. Give sulphur and resin every third 
day, in the proportions of two of the former to one of the 



222 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE EOOK. 

latter. Four or five doses will be enough — a quarter of a 
pound at a dose. 

Apply the corrosive liniment with a little mop, until the 
heel is thoroughly saturated. Shake it well before using, 
and turn out about a table-spoonful into an earthen cup. It 
should be applied every other day, until the disease is thor- 
oughly conquered, and all traces of inflammation, as well as 
of fungous growth, if any such there were, have entirely dis- 
appeared. The liniment often forms a thick scab upon the 
skin, so dry and hard that the remedj^ almost ceases to act. 
This is a sure sign that the case is progressing to a happy 
issue. When this occurs, the liniment may be omitted for 
several days, and the part kept well greased until the scab 
comes off, when the applications may be resumed. Such a 
course may be continued as long as necessary. 

Keep the horse out of the rain and wet while the liniment 
is being used, or, at least, for six hours afterward. The ap- 
plication? had better be made at night. The pasture is the 
best place for the horse during the day, but he should not 
be turned upon it until the dew is off in the morning, or the 
grass has dried after a rain. If at a time of year when there 
is no pasture, give him as much green, succulent food as can 
readily be obtained. At night house him in a clean, dry 
stable. 

The horse must have rest. To work him while thus dis- 
eased is not only unmerciful, but it may endanger his life, 
and will most certainly prevent a cure. But men often say, 
" I can not do without the services of my horse ; they are 
really indispensable." Very well ; we have this only to 
say: You must take your choice either of getting along with- 
out him for the little while necessary to effect a cure, or of 
doing without him altogether, as you certainly will have to 
do if the disease goes on unchecked. If you keep him at 
work, you have no right to look for any other result than 
some local disease that will ruin him forever. 

Of one thing we feel certain: if the owner were half as 
badly afliicted, he would contrive some means by which to 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EAR. 223 

do without his own services until he had recovered. Duty, 
mercy, and self-interest all plead in favor of a similar exemp- 
tion of man's faithful servant, the horse, when diseased and 
suffering. 

A singularly obstinate case of cracked heels was cured by 
the treatment above prescribed, at the vihage of Petersburg, 
Boone County, Kentucky, in the summer of 1866. A young 
stable horse, belonging to Mr. J. iSTelson Green, postmaster 
at that place, had this disease in a very aggravated form. 
The case had been treated by a professional veterinarian for 
some time, and finally given up as incurable. The writer 
then began treating it with the corrosive liniment. A thick 
scab was formed preseutly, but the parts were kept well 
greased, and by this means it was brought off". The appli- 
cations were then renewed, with like results and treatment. 
After the fourth alternation in the use of the liniment, the 
hist signs of the disease vanished entirely. 

SWELLED LEGS. 

Another form of disease intimately connected with cracked 
heels, and in many cases only an extension of it, is that which 
is appropriately known as swelled legs. The hind and some- 
times the fore-legs of the horse are subject to an enlarge- 
ment having its origin in the cellular tissue underlying the 
skin. This tissue is the thin, white membrane that attaches 
the skin to the muscles, and extends not only around the 
legs, but is spread over the entire body. 

Nature has filled all the interstices between the fleshy parts 
and the outer covering of the body with minute sacs, or close 
cells, filled with a watery secretion. They constitute the cel- 
lular tissue, and act as little pads for the skin, which every- 
where rests upon them. All our readers practically familiar 
with the operation of skinning a beef must have noticed the 
watery secretions oozing out as the knife has divided the 
little sacs of the cellular tissue. In many parts of the leg 
devoid of muscle this tissue is the only substance which in- 
tervenes between the skin and the hard, unyielding surface 



224 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

of the boues ; and heuce these parts are peculiarly liable to 
injury from the effects of blows and concussions. Here we 
find these little sacs especially numerous. It is another ex- 
hibition of the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, which 
the whole science of anatomy every-where reveals ; and, 
again, we must admire the incomparable design and perfect 
finish of every thing in Nature, all which is his handiwork. 

But what was intended as an instrumentalitj^for the horse's 
protection, under some circumstances, becomes the seat of 
very great distress and suffering. Terrible inflammations set 
up in the cellular tissue, the leg becomes dreadfully swollen, 
and the skin puffs out all around the limb, as though it had 
been stuffed and pressed out to its utmost tension. The leg 
grows very lame and stiff, and, after a time, cracks appear, 
from which exudes a whitish-yellow, watery matter, similar 
in appearance to that which characterizes cracked heels. The 
latter are generall}^ but not always, found in connection with 
swelled legs, and very often the two diseases run into each 
other. 

Sometimes the swelling of the legs comes on with aston- 
ishing rapidity — perhaps in a single night — and then disap- 
pears almost as suddenly. Such phenomena usually indicates 
nothing more than sympathy with functional derangement in 
Bome other part of the horse's frame. The disease has not 
assumed its chronic form. "What has yet occurred is only a 
premonition of worse things to follow. If these warnings 
were but understood and heeded, as they should be, a pain- 
ful and obstinate disease might now easily be averted. 

"Misfortunes never come singly,'' says the old proverb, and 
rarely does the history of this complaint tend to disprove its 
truth. Swelled legs is so intimately associated with other dis- 
eases that, in many an instance, it is an impossibility to decide 
which is the cause and which the effect. They are contin- 
ually running into and aggravating each other. At the root 
of all of them, however, the careful investigator may discover 
one of two or three primary diseases, in the great majority 
of cases. These are the diseases of the navicular and lower 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EAES. 225 

pastern Joints, and that most fruitful source of mischief in 
the horse's limbs, hoof rot. 

All these direful evils that wait upon the horse are stimu- 
lated, and, in fact, often brought into existence, by both local 
influences and constitutional tendencies. Under the first 
head, we include exposure, insufficient or unwholesome food, 
irregular feeding, hard usage, improper stable management, 
and a foul atmosphere ; under the other, a feelile state of 
health, impurity of the blood, the presence of fever, and the 
like. Several of these causes, acting together, can not fail 
to bring on one or more of these diseases with great celerity. 
Two of them, indeed, are often enough to do the mischief 
most effectually. 

When the disease takes on the form of swelled les:s, local 
inflammation is excited in the cellular membrane. The crack- 
ing open of the skin is but Nature's mode of discharging the 
accumulations of diseased water beneath, which ooze out and 
run down the leg. 

The foregoing we believe to be a fair history of this affec- 
tion and its many kindred ones. 

TKEATMENT. 

Nothing can be expected but that the case will prove ob- 
stinate, and the improvement very gradual. At the begin- 
ning of the treatment, take three quarts of blood from the 
neck vein. Apply the corrosive liniment with a little mop, 
in the same manner as directed for cracked heels; but this 
may be done every morning, without any intermission, until 
the swelling has entirely abated. Give daily a quarter of a 
pound of sulphur and two ounces of resin, both finely pul- 
verized, for three or four days. Put this in some meal or 
bran, and if the horse does not eat it, let him have no other 
food until he does. 

His diet should be light and moist, pasture being preferable. 
Let him have rest, and a good, clean, dry stable, that he may 
make the most of it. Keep him out of the wet, especially 
while doctoring him. 
15 



226 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

This treatment may be depended upon to effect a cure. It 
has done so in a large number of cases where other remedies 
have entirely failed. 

AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE. 

In support of the statement just made, the history of one 
case may be cited, from among numerous reminiscences of a 
similar character. It occurred in the winter of 1856-57. 

Colonel Jarmon, living in Wilson County, Tennessee, had 
a young stable horse afflicted with a swelled leg of fearful 
dimensions. The disease was developed in its most aggra- 
vated form. The hind leg had swollen until, from the hock 
to the hoof, it was a mass of putrid matter. It was badly 
cracked open, and the yellow, watery discharge was flowing 
from it abundantly. Yet the general health of the horse 
was not seriously impaired, and there was but little fever 
except what arose from the diseased leg. 

The previous history of this attack was a common one. 
Disease of the foot and bad stables were the sources of all 
the mischief. The whole list of remedies known in that part 
of the country had been tried, during several months con- 
tinuously, but with such utter lack of success that the horse 
had grown worse and worse, and the general opinion was 
rapidly settling down into the conviction that it was useless 
to attempt any further treatment. 

At this juncture, Colonel Jarmon having applied to the 
author, the corrosive liniment was recommended, and a serv- 
ant was immediately dispatched to Nashville, where the 
medicine was prepared, under our direction, and sent out to 
the farm. Special directions for its use had been given be- 
fore leaving, and were strictly carried out. The horse was 
efiectually cured, and became as sound and well as ever. 

SWELLED ANKLES. 

This is an aflection of a much milder type than the pre- 
ceding, and, as its name implies, is contined almost entirely 
to the ankle joints. It is intimately connected with swelled 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 227 

legs, of wliicli it is nearly always a precursor. Some horses 
are extremely subject to s\A'elled ankles. At night the parts 
show no signs of enlargement, but in the morning they are 
much swollen, and manifest a considerable deo-ree of heat. 
These symptoms disappear before night, and every thing 
seems right again. This condition of the joints may last for 
months, and has been known to trouble some horses for years. 
That it is attended with great uneasiness and some real pain 
is sufficiently evidenced by the efforts which the horse is con- 
tinually making to rest his feet, his disposition to lie down, 
and the relief which he manifests in doing so. In such cases, 
a diseased condition of the feet is invariably chargeable with 
these developments. 

Less frequently the origin of swelled ankles may be traced 
to the disease of the navicular and lower pastern joints; and 
occasionally it seems to be simply the result of constitutional 
tendencies — a plethoric condition, a superabundance of blood, 
in connection with hard work and severe straining. But iu 
nine cases out of ten, the evil proceeds from the hoof rot. 
The fever and heat arising from the diseased condition of the 
bottoms of the feet, inflame the membrane of the joint under 
the skin, and it enlarges while the horse is resting; but ex- 
ercise restores the healthful action of all the parts, and the 
swelling disappears. 

If the symptoms of swelled ankles are not met by appro- 
priate treatment, swelled legs, cracked heel, or scratches will 
be almost certain to supervene, sooner or later. 

TREATMENT. 

The first thing to be done is to remove the cause of the 
swelling by curing the bottoms of the feet. Apply the cor- 
rosive liniment to them freely every day for four or five days; 
then omit for two or three days, and resume the applications 
as before. Examine the heels, to see if they show any sore- 
ness, or whether there is any appearance of thrush. It may 
be well to apply the liniment to the heel also, to be certain 
to reach any disease which may possibly be lurking there. 



228 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Wbeiv the bottoms of the feet are well, the ankles will sweh 
no more. In those rare cases where the swelling proceeds 
from plethora, bleeding will be proper. 

The best diet will be something relaxing. An alterative 
will be found beneficial "in most cases. For this purpose, the 
powders mentioned in Section VII, of Chapter XXIV, may 
be employed. 

SURFEIT. 

Unlike the disorders we have been thus far considering 
in this chapter, surfeit is a general disease of the skin, in- 
stead of a local affection. It is usually of a mild type in this 
country, and seldom does any particular injury; and if the 
horse can have the privilege of a good pasture, it will gen- 
erally go away of itself. It generally makes its appearance 
in the spring, either at the time of shedding, or immediately 
afterward, when the skin is more nearly bared and exposed 
than at any other period of the year. 

Surfeit always indicates a thick and impure state of the 
blood. It is not often an evidence of a settled unhealthful- 
ness of the general system, or of any chronic disease ; for 
sometimes the best of horses are troubled with it. But it 
does tell, very frequently, of neglectful keeping and poor 
stables, although horses occasionally have it amid the most 
favorable surroundings possible. 

The blood being too thick and the circulation too slug- 
gish, when the hair falls ofi", the skin is suddenl}^ exposed to 
the variations of temperature, and other atmospheric condi- 
tions, and, perhaps, to cold rains and winds. The horse is 
chilled, slight inflammation arises, and the cuticle of the skin 
becomes hard and dry, from the closing of the pores and the 
retention of the oily secretions, whose proper office is to 
moisten and lubricate the surface. Little pustules appear 
upon the skin, and from the tops of these exudes a thin, 
whitish, oily matter. It is the long-pent-up unctuous secre- 
tion which is now escaping, somewhat changed by disease. 
It flows only in very minute quantities, and not much faster 
than in health. The little, scabby excrescences which it 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 229 

forms upon the skin, tliickly cover the shoulders, neck, sides, 
and the back parts of tlie fore-legs. 

When the skin is in the feverish condition that often char- 
acterizes it about the time of shedding, a variety of causes 
may produce a determination to surfeit. The eruptions may 
be thrown out very suddenly, not only by exposure to cold, 
but by the horse cooling off very quickly after having been 
overheated, or by drinking large quantities of water. They 
sometimes make their appearance in the course of a single 
night. 

A species of quick surfeit is sometimes the occasion of 
great alarm to the inexperienced, from the apprehension that 
it was farcy, by which na'me surfeit is called by thousands 
of American farmers at this day; but it has none of the dis- 
tinctive symptoms of that fearful scourge. Surfeit may, very 
rarely, degenerate into farcy, but this can only be when other 
powerful predisposing causes tend to the same result. A 
number of other diseases will be more likely to run into 
farcy than will this simple aficction of the skin. This sub- 
ject has already been adverted to in the section on Farcy, 
in Chapter V. 

TREATMENT. 

Not much is called for in the way of treatment. Bleed 
freely, taking three quarts of blood I'rom the neck vein, and 
give two of the ordinary doses of sulphur and resin. If the 
case seems obstinate, anoint the surface on which the surfeit- 
knots have broken out with a mixture of sulphur and lard, 
a spoonful of each. Do this at night, once or twice. Turn 
the horse out to pasture, let him have a few days' rest, and 
all will come out right, 

MANGE. 

Mange is the only disease into which there is much dan- 
ger that surfeit may degenerate. They are of the same type, 
but mange is much more aggravated than the other, and is 
also highly contagious. They are produced by the same in- 



230 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

fluences ; but while surfeit may run into mange, mange i& 
entirely beyond surfeit. 

This disease is the offspring of negligence and filth, and is 
o-enerally found in connection with emaciation and poverty. 
A horse in good condition may have surfeit, but even if the 
infection of mange should be communicated to him, it will 
never reduce him to the condition that farmers term mangy. 
The very idea of mange is universally associated with star- 
vation, wretchedness, and misery ; and an old, poor, mangy 
horse, out on the bleak commons or in an old field, tells 
such a history more plainly than could any words. 

The first appearance of the disease is a scabby eruption 
of the skin. The cuticle, or scarfskin, becomes broken into 
little pieces like scales, which peel off, leaving the parts be- 
neath raw and sore, and often bleeding. Before this, the 
hair will have come off, exposing the skin, which presents a 
dirty, brown appearance, and is loose, flabby, and puckered. 
It is covered with scales, and raw, red spots. A terrible, 
burning itching accompanies these symptoms, by which the 
horse is impelled to a continual rubbing, until it seems as if 
he would tear the skin off. Every-where he rubs he leaves 
the scurf, or dandruff, and every animal that repeats the ope- 
ration at the same place is liable to take tne disease, and is 
very certain to do so if he is poor and feeble. Mange is ex- 
ceedingly infectious; but, although cattle, hogs, and even 
dogs may recei^'e the disease from horses, it is never com- 
municated by them to the latter. 

The least contact, however, is sufficient to impart the dis- 
ease from one horse to another. It is very dangerous to use 
the same brush or curry-comb for a well horse that is em- 
ployed in grooming a mangy one, or to make a similar ex- 
change of collars. Infection seems to be communicated to 
the stable also, but may easily be counteracted in the man- 
ner we shall lay down shortly. 

Cases of this disease are more rare than formerly, thanks 
to the bettered condition of the American horse, from the 
increasing enlightenment of our farmers. Judging from the 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 231 

descriptions which the English veterinarians give of mange, 
it mnst exist in a materially worse form in Great Britain and 
on the continent than in this country. So mild are many 
cases here, that a single bleeding, with the run of a good 
pasture, will bring about a cure almost without medication 
or other treatment of any sort. 

The disease may be successfully treated in all its stages, 
but will hold out in proportion to the length of time it has 
been running, and the reduction of flesh, strength, and vigor 
which it has occasioned. A lean, emaciated, mangy horse 
it is a no small task to cure, while one with tolerable flesh 
and scarcely impaired health will recover with the aid of 
but very light treatment. 

In the case of the poor, feeble animal, the disease is con- 
stitutional. It has been brought into being by poverty and 
debility, by the lack of a sufficient degree of vital energy to 
throw out the unctuous secretions to the surface of the skin. 
It aflects the blood and general system to a sad extent. 
Constitutional remedies will here prove absolutely essential. 
In the case of the horse in a passable condition of health and 
strength, mange is the result of infection only, and extends 
its eftects little, if at all, beyond the skin itself. Local treat- 
ment will readil}^ remove it, and, as before intimated, the 
forces of Kature will sometimes prove almost sufficient to 
throw it oif ^\■ithout additional assistance^ 

TREATMENT. 

Bleed the horse in proportion to the hold which the dis- 
ease seems to have secured upon the system. We do not 
believe, with the majority of writers, that moderate bleeding 
of the horse, while diseased, tends to enfeeble him. Our ex- 
perience leads to an entirely opposite conclusion. We have 
repeatedly taken the diseased horse when so low that he 
could not rise to his feet without help, and, after bleeding 
him freely, have seen him begin to amend from that time, and 
continue to improve until quite well. This subject will be more 
fully discussed in the section on Bleeding, in Chapter XV. 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Bleediug, then, is indispensable — one time in a moderate 
case, and twice in an extreme one. Three quarts will be 
about the average quantity of blood to be taken, which should 
be from the neck vein. If a second bleeding is resorted to, 
it should be ten days after the first. 

Anoint the entire mangy surface with the mercurial salve, 
•applying it with a little mop or rag, and rub it in thor- 
ouo-hly. Use as small a quantity of salve as can be made to 
effect the purpose intended, which is to spread a thin coat- 
ing of it over the entire skin. As a general thing, one ap- 
plication will be enough. If it is necessary to repeat it, 
however, wash off the mangy surface with strong soap and 
water, and, as soon as the skin is dry, apply the salve again, 
as before. 

Another remedy is to make a salve by using equal parts 
of the corrosive liniment, sulphur, and lard. These, well 
mixed, and applied as directed in the last paragraph for the 
mercurial salve, will effectually kill the mange. The corro- 
sive liniment should be well shaken before being turned out. 
It will be better to use a very little of this ointment and rub 
it in thoroughly, than to apply a much larger quantity with- 
out the rubbing. 

The next step in the treatment will be to give the old and 
reliable remedy, sulphur and resin. A quarter of a pound 
of sulphur and two ounces of very finely pulverized resin 
will constitute the dose. Give this every third day, for a 
period of twelve or fifteen days. 

After this, the best medicine will be that furnished by a 
good, green pasture, which will do more to "bring out" a 
mangy horse than any thing else in the world. At night put 
him up in a dry, clean stable, and let him have plenty of oats 
or chop-feed. Poverty has been the cause of the mischief. 
You should labor to improve his condition and flesh. Fill 
out his flabby, puckered skin with sound, healthy muscle, 
and mange will disappear. It can not live and flourish in 
connection with proper care and a good condition of the 
horse. 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 233 

As regards infection, all danger will cease as soon as the 
salve has been applied. The stables should be washed with 
strong Ije or a decoction of tobacco. A solution of sulphur, 
or chloride of lime and water, will form au excellent substi- 
tute for this purpose. Any one of these will entirely destroy 
the infection. 

If a horse, in good condition, has taken the disease by 
rubbing after a mangy companion, the bleeding may be 
omitted altogether. The remainder of the treatment should 
be carried out, except tliat, in his case, only two doses of 
sulphur and resin need be given. 

HIDE-BOUND. 

This is a skin disease of a peculiar character. Although 
similar to the mange in respect to the causes which produce 
it, it is neither an infectious nor an eruptive disorder, and 
the condition of the skin is the very reverse of flabby a,nd 
puckered. The flow of the unctuous, lubricating fluid through 
the pores is entirely suspended, and the hide becomes dry and 
hard, not unlike what it would be if it were taken ofi" and 
hung upon the fence to dry. While hide-bound is a very 
distinctive name, the term dry-hide would be equally appro- 
priate, or perhaps still more so. 

It is an aflection not only of the cellular membrane, and 
the watery secretions contained in its little sacs, but also of 
the skin itself. Not long does this remain dry and hard be- 
fore it loses all its flexibility. It adheres closely, almost im- 
movably, to the ribs, the legs, the neck, and, in fact, to every 
portion of the body; and it becomes utterly impossible to 
gather it up in folds with the hand, as one can easily do 
when the horse is in health. The hair, robbed of that bright- 
ness and glossiness which is its peculiar beauty in the ar- 
rangements of Nature, looks dry and dingy, like the hair 
upon a dead hide. 

Hide-bound indicates a diseased condition of the system, 
generally from derangement of the vital functions. The 
blood is thick, dark, and feverish, and the circulatory and se- 



234 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

cretive processes morbidly and sluggishly performed. How 
greatly digestion is impaired is shown by the appearance of 
the excrement, which is dry, hard, and black. 

It is not so much itself a disease as it is the fearful eftects 
of some other disorder raging in the animal's system. It is 
an invariable accompaniment of big head. Glanders will 
produce it, and so will farcy, founder, and distemper. Bad 
cases of swinney, big shoulder, and lock-jaw, have this among 
their final developments. The fever which attends these 
dreadful complaints dries up the watery secretions of the 
system, and the hide shrinks and shrivels closely to the 
body. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment will be prolonged and tedious, and will be 
productive of results but slowly. Especial attention must be 
paid to the disease which has brought on such a condition 
of the skin, and not until that has been cured can we hope 
for a favorable change in respect to the latter. The predis- 
posing disease, whatever it may be, must be treated directly, 
as prescribed elsewhere, in its proper place. 

Bleed three times, at intervals of ten days. The first, time, 
take four quarts of blood; afterward, two. Give the "jim- 
son" seed every third day, until the stiiFness has been en- 
tirely removed. Of this a table-spoonful is the proper dose. 
Let the horse have plenty of sulphur and resin, in the usual 
proportions. Especial attention must be bestowed upon the 
horse's diet and to stable regulations. Instructions have been 
so fully given in regard to these points in the preceding sec- 
tions of this chapter, that there can be no necessity for re- 
peating them here. Pasturing will do more than medica- 
tion to cure hide-bound. 

STIFF COMPLAINT. 

This seems to be a disease almost peculiar to the Southern 
States. It is another and aggravated development of the 
symptoms of hide-bound. The skin is dreadfully dry and 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EAKS. 235 

contracted, fitting so closely about the joints that they lose 
their suppleness and grow so stiff that the horse can not 
mo^^e them without painful exertion. The muscles and ten- 
dons, especially those of the legs, become stiff, and fairly seem 
to contract. The horse's movements, thus seriously retarded, 
are dull, heavy, and stumbling. 

TREATMENT. 

Bleed copiously from the neck vein, removing at least a 
gallon of blood. This will relax the system" and stimulate 
the lagging or suspended functions of secretion. The ne- 
cessity for bleeding arises, not from a superabundance of 
blood, but from "ts diseased condition, which retards it proper 
circulation, and eventuates in more or less of fever and 
inflammation. The absorbents of the system act with such 
difficulty that medication is of little service as a means of 
purifying the blood. In fact, our experience has convinced 
us that alteratives, so called, do more harm than good during 
such a state of suspended functions; for they can not be 
taken up in any quantities and conveyed into the circulation, 
but linger in the stomach and intestinal canal, which they 
irritate, and thus, instead of allaying fever, actually excite it. 
The benefit ot bleeding is that it prepares the way for alter- 
atives to act promptly and energetically. 

Bleed copiously two or three times, as directed for hide- 
bound, the blood being permitted to flow until it changes 
from a dark, almost black, color to a bright, healthful red, 
or until the pulse falters. This course will relax the system, 
and relieve the vessels of their impure, turgid blood. 

The "jimson" seed, which is perhaps the most powerful 
alterative in the world, meets this case exactly. It enters 
freely and rapidly into the blood, relaxes the capillaries, opens 
the pores, and sends out the retarded secretions to soften the 
skin once more. Give a table-spoonful of the seed, eacli 
morning, in some meal or bran, until the patient gets better. 
Let the horse have an abundance of sulphur and resin at the 
same time, the ordinary dose every other day, in some meal 



236 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

or bran, wliicli compel him to eat by giving nothing else until 
it is gone. 

A horse with stiff complaint must have rest. N"o one pos- 
sessed of any feeling would put such an animal to service, 
when every movement must give him pain. 

WARTS. 

These are little tumors or excrescences, of various sizes and 
shapes, that come upon the horse's skin, generally accom- 
panying plethora, high feeding, and limited exercise. Young 
horses are oftener annoyed by them than older ones. Jacks 
are seldom free from them. They are of two kinds — seed 
and blood warts. 

Seed warts are generally small, and usually make their 
appearance on the eyelids, the nose, and the sheath, and ad- 
joining portions of the belly. The}^ grow in patches, and 
have little hard points, or grains, which are known by the 
name of seeds. They have a connection with the cuticle, 
and extend downward to the cellular membrane, which is 
the source of supply to their growth. At the base of each seed, 
where it has its origin in this membrane, is what is popularly 
called its root, which must be destroyed in order to remove 
the wart. Seed warts indicate a morbid condition of the 
humors of the skin, but do very little harm, and often go 
away of themselves. 

Blood warts are more serious affairs. They are a fungous 
growth of flesh from the cellular membrane, are of a spongy 
texture, and filled with little vessicles from which blood ex- 
udes freely upon every slight irritation. Their favorite loca- 
tions are the hock and knee-joints and the pasterns. Some- 
times they are found upon the sheath and neighboring parts. 
They are most numerous upon those surfaces where there is 
unusual irritation, or where foulness of any kind is permitted 
to collect; but, like seed warts, they have been known to 
grow on all parts of the body. 

The blood wart is always disposed to spread and enlarge, 
and on the knee or pastern will sometimes extend entirely 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EAES. 237 

around the joint. When one makes its appearance, it is to 
be regarded as only the harbinger of many more. In the 
winter of 1858-9, we saw a wart on tlie pastern of the hind 
leg of a horse, encircling the whole joint, which was nearlj' 
twenty inches in circumference. It consisted of five or six 
excrescences of difterent sizes, each of them very sore, raw, 
and bleeding. The animal was a fine young mare, of good 
size and form, but at that time feverish and in quite low 
condition. 

The blood wart is occasionally found hanging in the form 
of a pellet, connected with the skin by a neck or stem. When 
this is the case, it is easily removed. 

TREATMENT. 

If the wart is of the kind mentioned in the last paragraph, 
tie a waxed cord around the little stem of the wart as tiglitly 
as it can be drawn. This completely stops the circulation, 
and, of course, cuts off all nutrition; and, in a few days, the 
stem will separate from its connection, so that the wart will 
drop off. 

In treating other warts, a strong solution of caustic potash 
Vv'ill be the best remedy for eating down the excrescence and 
killing the seed. Take of crude potash about one pound, and, 
after allowing it to remain exposed to the air until it dissolves, 
add a small quantity of water. Touch the end of the wart 
each morning — or, still better, each morning and evening — 
with this solution, by means of a little mop. After each ap- 
plication, the dead matter on the top of the wart should be 
scraped or thoroughly washed off before making another. 
Three or four days will be long enough to use the solution 
continuously. Then omit two days, and apply again as before. 

Great caution will be necessary, not only in confining the 
application to the wart, but also to prevent the potash from 
afterward spreading to the healthy surface adjoining. Severe 
sores have sometimes resulted from a careless use of this 
powerful caustic. To guard against the possibility of such 
injuries, take a thick piece of paper and cut a hole through 



238 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE ROOK. 

it of the exact size of the wart, and, having hiin it upon the 
latter so that the top of the wart will protrude through the 
opening, appl}^ the caustic solution, as before directed. A still 
better method, and the one which should always be pursued 
in cases of blood warts, is to surround the wart with a coat 
of tallow for about half an inch, on all sides, and then apply 
the caustic. 

For blood warts, the application may be continued each 
morning and evening, without intermission, until they are 
destroyed. Sometimes the wart will bleed too freely while 
undergoing this treatment, and, in very extreme cases, it 
may be necessary to check this by searing with a hot iron. 
After this, suspend treatment for two or three days. Should 
the legs swell badly, as they often do, intermit the applica- 
tions in the same way. As a rule, however, the practition- 
er's efforts for eradicating blood warts can not well be too 
vigorously prosecuted. In very had cases, he should begin 
by bleeding, in order to relieve the overloaded vessels ; and 
he might profitably substitute diluted nitric acid for the so- 
lution of potash. But this must be handled with the utmost 
possible caution, following the directions above given. 

As soon as the wart is properly reduced, apply a small 
quantity of the corrosive liniment, each morning, with a 
little mop. Continue thus for four days; then omit for as 
many more, and apply again. During the periods of inter- 
mission, the wart should be kept well greased, coal oil being 
better for this purpose than any thing else. Before applying 
the liniment again, the oil or grease must be thoroughly 
washed off with soap and water. 

The removal of small seed warts will not require such vig- 
orous measures as those above laid down. Bleeding from the 
neck vein, with two or three doses of sulphur and resin, will 
generally exterminate these little fellows. Sometimes they 
disappear without treatment of any kind. Unless they come 
on the joints, they are not worth troubling about. The 
usual diminutive seed warts on the nose and eyelids may be 
Buffered to remain undisturbed. 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 239 

jSTot so with tlic blood wart, however small its first ap- 
pearance. Attack this at once, for now it may be easily 
conquered, while continued neglect ma}^ enable it to attain 
such strength and vigor as to defy all treatment. 

Some danger attends cutting off a large wart, from the 
obstinate hemorrhage which may ensue. Only the searing 
will close the vein in such a case, and this may give rise to 
a dreadful inflammation. 

SORE NOSE. 

The noses of many horses are sometimes discovered to be 
sore, and incrusted with scabs, when no other disease is ap- 
parent. This condition may be the result of constitutional 
debility; but it is, in the Southern States, more frequently 
produced by a certain poisonous weed that grows in those 
latitudes, and w^hich, from its peculiar effects upon the horse, 
is there knowm as "sneeze- weed." It is a plant, growing 
about one and a half feet high, and stands very thickly 
upon the ground, which, at some seasons, is covered with 
the old petals of its yellow blossoms and the leaves which 
fall from its stalks. The tine particles of these the horse 
snuffs up into his nose, when grazing near tlie weed, and 
they create sores upon the outside of the nostril. Especially 
is this the case when the animal feeds in such places early 
in the morning, before the dew is gone. At that time, the 
green weed itself w'ill poison the nose. Young colts are the 
most easily affected by these agencies, and very often have 
noses perfectly covered with scabs. At one time, the opin- 
ion was almost universal at the South that " sneeze-weed " 
would kill, not only horses, but even cattle; but, although 
extremely poisonous, there is no sufficient ground for believ- 
ing it to be so deadly as this. 

The nose is frequently poisoned by other weeds and vines, 
many of which, though perfectl}'' harmless when taken into 
the stomach, will seriously irritate and fester the skin. The 
"jimson w^eed " will poison the nose of cattle and sheep as 
well as of horses ; and yet all of them have been known to 



240 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

eat quantities of both its leaves and buds, not only without 
detriment, but with positive benefit to health. 

TREATMENT. 

The mercurial salve will be the proper remedy in this case. 
Apply a very thin coat of it to the sore parts, and rub it ia 
well with a little mop. It may be best to mix the salve with 
equal parts of lard and sulphur before using it thus. Anoint 
the parts each morning, until the sores and scabs are all 
gone. 

SADDLE GALLS. 

Nothing is more common than for the back of the horse 
to become chafed and raw from the unequal pressure of the 
saddle; and sometimes this condition continues until trouble- 
some tumors are formed. After a time, these break, and dis- 
charge considerable quantities of matter. The same conse- 
quences may proceed from the severe pressure of other por- 
tions of the harness besides the saddle. 

These injuries of the back have taken difierent names, ac- 
cording to the various phases which they assume, from the 
first chafing of the skin to the final ulceration of the tumor. 
Patches of skin, under the saddle, often appear dead and 
destitute of blood, and these are called " warbles." When 
they ulcerate and discharge pus, they are termed " sit-fasts." 
After the tumor has gone, the saddle is often replaced too 
soon, before the parts have entirely healed, and while there 
is yet considerable tenderness. The rubbing now occasions 
a hard, almost horny excrescence, and this has strangely re- 
ceived the name of "navel gall," in consequence of its loca- 
tion upon the back, opposite the navel. 

So many names, for what is substantially the same trouble, 
tend to confusion, and are certainly altogether unnecessary. 
Saddle galls they all were in the beginning, and saddle galls 
they may be appropriately designated under all after devel- 
opments. 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 24:i 



TREATMENT. 

The treatment will necessarily vary somewhat, according 
to the circumstances in which the horse, and the person 
using him, happen to be placed. If at home, the first and 
essential thing to do is to let the animal rest. Do not put 
a saddle on him until he is entirclj^ well. In all stages of 
the complaint, use the corrosive liniment, which will readily 
heal the sore, in all cases, if the horse is exempt from serv- 
ice under the saddle. Continue to apply it daily, with a 
little mop, always drying it in well with a hot iron, until 
the cure is completed. 

But it may^be the traveler's misfortune, when far away 
from home, to find that the back of his horse has become 
badly galled with the saddle, and this in warm weather 
especially; or perhaps the skin of the back is scalded from 
the use of a woolen blanket, forming a worse sore than even 
saddle galls. At any rate, his horse is in no condition to 
bear the saddle ; yet he must ride the poor creature, or else 
dispose of him at a sacrifice, and hurry forward by some 
other mode of conve^'ance. In such a predicament, the 
knowledge of some means, either to cure the sore back or 
to remove pressure from it, when the saddle is being worn, 
would be not merely of pecuniary benefit, but, to every hu- 
mane person, it would prove a source of real pleasure. 

Such meaiis we can easily suggest. As soon as the con- 
dition of the back is discovered, wash the sore with clean, 
cold water, and, when dry, cover it entirely over with a 
piece of adhesive plaster. This must first be heated, of 
course, until the salve with which it is coated has been 
melted, and it must then be applied as quickly as possible, 
and pressed down with the hands. The best plan is to carry 
Bome live coals from the fire, or a hot iron, close to the 
horse, and there heat the plaster. If the back is greatly 
swollen, and matter has formed, cut a hole in the center of 
the plaster, before putting it on, so that the matter can 
escape readily. 
16 



242 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Such a plaster will entirely prevent the friction of tho 
saddle or blanket, while the salve upon it is very healing 
It also excludes the air, and is almost equivalent to a new 
piece of skin. Using it thus is emphatically patching the 
horse's back. Should the plaster come off, apply another 
immediately. If au ulcerated sore has formed, either a hole 
ma}' be cut in the blanket, so as to relieve the part from 
pressure, O" the blanket may be folded in such a manner 
as to lift the saddle from the sore entirely. 

With this treatment, the horse may be ridden constantly, 
and the saddle gall will not only grow no worse, but will 
slowly heal. But it can be recommended only in the case 
we have supposed. When the horse can be at home, no 
saddle should be allowed to touch his back until it is quite 
well again. 

INJURIES OF THE EAH. 

Among the many cruelties practiced upon the horse is 
that of pinching and pulling the ears. If the animal is rest- 
less or fractious wliile shoeing, many blacksmiths have a 
fashion of taking hold of the ear with their pincers; and 
should he rebel against such usage, he is pulled by the ear 
with all the strength which the smith can exert, or that of 
some assistant who holds him while the shoe is being fast- 
ened. Other persons habitually pursue the same course when 
they wish to control a wild or fractious horse. 

By such means the ear is often badly injured, and the ten- 
dons which sustain it in its erect position being broken, it 
drops down to one side. The horse no longer has any con- 
trol over it, and it flaps about with every motion of the 
head and neck. Serious ulcers are sometimes ihe conse- 
quences of these lesions of the muscles and cartilages of the 
ear; and cases have occurred where the same causes pro- 
duced a running sore, similar to poll-evil, on the upper side 
of the ear, near the head. 

But these abuses occasionally result in still graver disorders. 
Ulcers have been formed in the cavities of the ear within 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 243 

the head, especially from blows inflicted upon the latter at 
the origin of the ear. Some persons are so ill-tempered and 
furious that, if the horse does not obey the slightest intima- 
tions of their will, tliej'' rush for the nearest cudgel, and 
commence beating him over the head. 

Permanent deafness is not unfrequently caused by such 
violence. There are many horses in this country either 
wholly or partially deaf in one or both ears. How common 
it is to find horses that seem never to hear any commands 
unless given in a very loud tone of voice, and then they 
start suddenl}', as though only just conscious of having been 
spoken to. Sometimes the hearing is perfect upon one side, 
but on the other it is gone entirely. 

TREATMENT. 

If the trouble is all upon the outside, the treatment for fis- 
tula should be employed. If there is nothing more than a 
swelling or tumor just beginning, apply the corrosive lini- 
ment; but use the May-apple liniment when matter is al- 
ready forming. Should there be an abscess on the outside, 
open it at its lower extremity, and let the lancet slant up- 
ward into the tumor. 

In case the injury is within the cavities of the head, little 
can be done either to relieve or cure. Sometimes, however, 
relief can be given by ejecting into the ear, with a small 
syringe or pipe, a small quantity of the eye-wash, prepared 
as directed in Chapter XXIV. The case will assuredly prove 
a very obstinate one. A fatal termination is not impossible, 
while deafness is a very probable result. 

SORE EARS. • 

Scabby or mangy eruptions sometimes make their appear- 
ance on the tips of the ear, and spread downward until that 
whole member is covered with them. These constitute a 
genuine skin disease, resembling several other cutaneous 
eruptions described more fully in the preceding sections of 
this chapter. 



244 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



TREATMENT. 

Make some good strong soap-suds, with wliicli wash of! 
the ear, and then anoint with the sulphur ointment. Give 
this a thorough trial, and if a cure is not efiected, apply a 
very little of the mercurial salve once a day, for two or three 
days. Omit for ahout the same period, and apply again. But 
it will rarely be necessary to use this salve. 

VERMIN. 

This is a very appropriate connection in which to intro- 
duce the subject of vermin, those pests which, in some form 
or other, torment every class of the animal creation. Here- 
tofore, vermin have generally been supposed to infest only 
the horse which was very poor and in bad plight generally ; 
but during and since the late war, we have known them to 
trouble a great many animals in excellent condition. In such 
cases they have probably been only the offspring of chance 
comers, originally bred elsewhere. 

On poor, mangy horses, these pests do undoubtedly breed. 
They are one of the curses which attend bad stabling, foul 
air, filth, and negligence. Although they may appear on 
horses that run in pasture, in nine cases out of ten the}" are 
bred in illy-managed stables, and are almost invariably the 
associates of impurities and squalid poverty. They always 
evidence a lack of proper currying, and negligence in respect 
to keeping both the horse and stable clean. 

They are generally worse in the early spring, just before 
the hair is shed ; but, unless removed, they often cling to 
many old carcasses all the year. Old horses are more troubled 
with them than the young and vigorous. They are the tor- 
ment especially of the colt, during his first winter, and many 
a poor, thin, half-dead yearling has been reduced to that con- 
dition by these crawling nuisances. To their presence the 
farmer may often trace the lean unthrifty condition of his 
colt, that is otherwise inexplicable. 

In some cases they are the offspring of disease, and too 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 245 

commouly are the cause of it ; for no animal can long re- 
main healthy while thus infested. Surfeit, mange, and hide- 
bound, and perhaps some other affections, are always aggra- 
vated by them. 

TREATMENT. 

If the horse has no chronic or seated disease, vermin may 
be destroyed by simply greasing the hair with the mercurial 
salve, or the precipitate or sulphur ointment. Tobacco will 
kill them, but it will come too near killing the horse also, to 
be a desirable remedy. 

In connection with whatever ointment may be used, the 
horse should be well dosed with sulphur and resin. Three 
table-spoonfuls of sulphur and one of finely-pulverized resin 
may be given in the feed every other day. 

A change from the stable to the pasture will be the best 
medicine after this; but if this can not be afforded the horse, 
let him have a diet abundant, wholesome, and relaxing. 

In all skin affections, where alteratives are needed, the 
preparation mentioned in Section VII, of Chapter XXIV, 
may be used with advantage. It will do as a substitute for 
the sulphur and resin, in some cases, and still oftener, per- 
haps, in connection with them. 



246 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER IX. 

DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

The brain and nervous system of the horse, like those of 
the human being, are subject to a variety of disorders ; but 
in this country much less frequently, we are led to believe, 
than in Europe. Some of these diseases result from injuries; 
others are due to local derangement in the cerebral region it- 
self; and a third class proceed from a disturbed condition of 
the nervous system generally. Injuries of the brain nearly 
always terminate in death. 

In a large majority of cases, where the brain of the horse 
is affected, compression is a principal cause, or, at least, the 
very marked accompaniment, of disease. Compression of the 
brain may be of three kinds — of the bones, of water, and of 
blood. Bony enlargements occasionall}^ form upon the inner 
surface of the cranial bones, and, pressing inwardly upon the 
brain, produce spasms and death. Similar effects are some- 
times caused by brutal or heedless blows upon the head, es- 
pecially that of the colt, in whom the bones are yet soft and 
flexible. 

WATER ON THE BRAIN. 

This constitutes the watery compression. It is the collec- 
tion of a viscid fluid between the membranes or the ventricles 
and passages of the brain. In the mature horse this affec- 
tion occurs but seldom, but it is a not uncommon ailment 
of young colts. It nearly always produces deformity, and 
usually considerable enlargement of the head. The colt gen- 
erally dies at the time of foaling, or soon afterward, but in 
some cases lingers along for some mouths. 

We know of no remedy for water on the brain. Occasion- 
ally, the forces of Nature may prove sufficient to overcome 



DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 247 

the difficulty, but this is more than the owner ever has any- 
right to calculate upon. 

APOPLEXY. 

Apoplexy is caused by the pressure of blood upon the 
brain, and is common in the human subject. It is rarely 
recognized in the veterinary practice of the farmer, and he 
would probably be surprised to know how many horses die 
of it yearly. The animal's death is usually attributed to some 
other disease, and the treatment pursued, being in accordance 
with the erroneous diagnosis, in nine cases out of ten, aids 
materially in hastening a fatal result. Perhaps nearly one 
fourth of those severe attacks of disease which go among the 
masses by the name of bots, is really apoplexy ; and we ven- 
ture the opinion that in the Northern States, as well as in 
Europe and other grass-growing countries, the disorder which 
the schools, the veterinary practitioner, and the farmer all 
alike call staggers is, in a very large majority of instances, no 
other than the same disease. As we have elsewhere stated, 
that awful scourge of the Southern States, blind staggers, 
is not known north of about the latitude of thirty-six. 

Apoplexy does not often attack any other than the horse in 
very plethoric condition. Sometimes it may result from 
other diseases ; and the animal which has been greatly over- 
tasked and reduced in flesh, and then kept for a time with 
nothing to do, and an abundance of high feed, will undoubt- 
edly be a proper subject for it. Young colts, while teething, 
are rather apt to be troubled with it also. But, after all, 
plethora, with its usual accompaniments of high feeding and 
limited exercise, constitutes by far the most frequent cause 
of apoplexy. 

Happily, notions now prevail yery different from those 
which formerly obtained, in relation to the condition of flesh 
most conducive to the horse's beauty, utility, and health. It 
is not now esteemed desirable that the animal should be made 
fat enough for the butcher, nor that it is even safe to keep 
him housed up nearly all the time without exercise. 



248 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Apoplexy is always characterized by giddiness and wild- 
ness of motion, and nearly always by a staggering gait. 
Hence, the reason why it is so frequently mistaken for stag- 
gers. Its severe symptoms, in the next stage, are profuse 
sweating; a trembling of the whole frame, and especially of 
the knees; a wild, wistful look, and a twitching of the skin 
and jerking of the ears. The majority of farmers, and half 
the modern horse doctors, would pronounce these symptoms 
indicative of bots, and would fill the poor creature's stomach 
with quantities of nauseous drugs, for the purpose of making 
the hot " let go his hold," but which only increases the sufter 
ing, if indeed they do not actually cause death. 

All this is sheer nonsense. The horse needs no medicine; 
the condition of his system precludes their use at this stage. 
His sufl'ering proceeds from a nervous agitation ; for the 
whole system of nerves is dreadfullj^ disturbed, and the 
brain — the great sensorium of nervous power — is fearfully 
compressed. There has been a great and sudden determina- 
tion of blood to the head. The whole cerebral tissue of 
nerves and blood-vessels has become terribly congested. The 
brain, first benumbed by the compression of the engorged 
vessels, is next paralyzed, and its functions are suspended, 
and then the final external symptoms of the disease are loss 
of sensation and voluntary motion. 

The cause of this flow of blood to the head, is not a 
changed or a diseased condition of the brain itself. General 
contraction of the vascular system has forced undue qantities 
of blood into its large receptacles; or it may be that violent 
external pressure, such as that of a tightly-fitting collar, has 
impeded the return of the blood from the brain to the heart. 
The itccumulation of fat, or an excessive growth of flesh 
throughout the body, along the channels of the blood-vessels, 
is apt to produce such a contraction of their walls, while, in 
addition to this, it is always accompanied by a great fullness 
of blood. For these reasons, it is dangerous to overfeed and 
pamper any animal. 

Not only is there too much blood, but it is too thick, and 



DISEASES OF TKE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 249 

of an luinaturally deep red, almost brown color. By tlie 
contraction of the vessels, this turbid blood is thrown back 
upon the heart in larger quantities than that organ can dis- 
pose of it. The heart becomes full, and can contain no 
more ; the blood returning from the brain can not move 
foi'ward ; the jugular vein at the side of the neck is swollen 
to its utmost capacity; the vessels of the brain, dreadfully 
distended, press violently upon its soft substance ; the blood 
is stilled; nervous action is suspended, and the horse falls 
down in death. 

All this may not consume more time than we have occu- 
pied in telling it, but sometimes it is the work of hours. The 
condition that has induced the attack may have been de- 
veloping for months or years. One who feeds his horse very 
high, until the animal is very fat, and, meanwhile, allowed 
but little exercise, need not be surprised, on going to the 
stable some morning, to find his favorite dead or dying from 
apoplexy. 

The attack comes on without much warning, sometimes 
with none at all. When the farmer's "bots" or "staggers" 
takes on the features described above, the case is a grave 
one. 

One effect of this disease merits particular notice, and this 
is the extent to which the eyes often suffer, even when the 
apoplectic symptoms have been comparatively mild. Not a 
few cases of eye diseases, and some of actual blindness, have 
their origin in attacks of apoplexy. Says Youatt : " It is 
not the common blindness from cataract, but a peculiarly 
glassy appearance of the eye. If the history of these blind 
horses could be told, it would be found that they had been 
subject to fits of drooping and dullness, and these produced 
by absurd management respecting labor and food." 

The symptoms and developments of apoplexy we have 
already described, in great measure; but Youatt's treatment 
of the same subject is so full and satisfactory, that we can 
not forego the pleasure of spreading the passages before our 
readers : 



250 AMEKICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

" The liorse is a little off his feed ; he is more than usually 
dull ; there is a degree of stupidity about him, and, generally, 
a somewhat staggering gait. This goes off when he has 
been out a little while, but it soon returns under a more de- 
cided character, until, at length, it forces itself on the atten- 
tion of the most careless. 

" The actual illness is perhaps ffrst recognized by the horse 
standing with his head depressed. It bears upon, or is forced 
against the manger or the wall, and a considerable part of 
the weight of the animal is evidently supported by this pres- 
sure of the head. As he thus stands, he is balancing him- 
self from one side to the other, as if he were ready to fall ; 
and it is often dangerous to stand near to him, or to move 
him, for he falls without warning. If he can get his muzzle 
into a corner, he will sometimes continue there motionless 
for a considerable time, and then drop as if he were shot ; 
but, the next moment, he is up again, with his feet almost 
in the rack. He sleeps, or seems to do so, as he stands, or 
at least he is nearly or quite unconscious of surrounding ob- 
jects. When he is roused, he looks vacantly around him. 
Perhaps he will take a lock of hay, if it is offered to him ; 
but, ere it is half masticated, the eye closes, and he sleejvs 
again, with the food in his mouth. Soon afterward he is, 
perhaps, roused once more. The eye opens, but it has an 
unmeaning glare. The hand is moved before him, but the 
eye closes not; he is spoken to, but he hears not. The List 
act of voluntary motion which he will attempt is usually to 
drink ; but he has little power over the muscles of degliititit»n, 
and the fluid returns through the nostrils. 

" He now begins to foam at the mouth. His breathing is 
laborious and loud. It is performed by the influence of the 
organic nerves, and those of animal life no longer lend their 
aid. The pulse is slow and oppressed; the jugular vein is 
distended almost to bursting ; the muzzle is cold, and the 
discharge of the faeces involuntary ; he grinds his teeth ; 
twitchings steal over his face and attack his limbs — they 
sometimes proceed to convulsions, and dreadful ones, too, in 



DISEASES OF THE BEAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 251 

which the horse beats himself about in a terrible manner — 
but there is rarely disposition to do mischief. In the greater 
number of cases, these convulsions last not long. All the 
powers of life are oppressed, and death speedily closes the 
scene. 

" On examination after death, the whole venous system is 
usually found in a state of congestion, and the vessels of the 
brain are peculiarly turgid with black blood. Occasionally, 
however, there is no inflammation of the brain or its mem- 
branes; but either the stomach contains a more than usual 
quantity of food, or the larger intestines are loaded with 
foul matter." 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment indicated by the symptoms of apoplexy is 
very plain. The stomach itself needs no medicine, but may 
be made the medium through which to convey a remedy for 
the benefit of the nervous system. As it is the superabun- 
dance of blood in the region of the brain that is killing the 
horse, the first step in the treatment will be to bleed. Open the 
jugular vein as soon as possible, and let the blood run until 
its color changes to a light red color. The incision, Avhether 
made with the fleam or lancet, should be large, so that the 
stream may be of corresponding size, and flow freely. Re- 
action is to be produced, and the blood drawn from the 
vicinity of the brain as rapidly as possible. The operator 
must be the judge as to the precise amount of blood to be 
taken, as this will vary greatly in different cases ; but his rule 
should be to let it flow until the horse falters or trembles, or 
begins to blow. 

Next, give a pint of hot salt and water, with a tea-spoonful 
of Cayenne pepper and half an ounce of laudanum in it. 
Youatt prescribes gentian and ginger. These are very good, 
but quite mild, and, in our practice, have not seemed to fully 
meet the requirements of the case. They do pretty well, 
however, to follow after the laudanum. Prepare in propor- 
tions as follows : One-half ounce of pulverized gentian, the 



252 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK 

same of ginger, and four ounces of Epsom salts. These 
quantities constitute two doses. Give the first dose four 
hours after the laudanum, and the other twelve hours later. 
An opiate is needed, as well as a powerful sedative and anti- 
spasmodic. All these are contained in the remedies here 
recommended. The salt and water nauseate, the pepper 
stimulates, the laudanum is the opiate, and all are anti- 
septic. 

As soon as the horse becomes somewhat easy and still, the 
aloes pill should be given — from one-half an ounce to an 
ounce of aloes, made into a pill with some flour. Put this 
upon the roots of the patient's tongue, and he will swal- 
low it. 

But little more is needed. If the case can be carried thus 
far successfully, a recovery may reasonably be looked for. A 
judicious care must be exercised in regard to diet. Light 
food only must be allowed — mashes, green substances, and 
pasture. Horses that are regularly permitted to graze are 
not troubled with apoplexy. It is a disease of the stables. 

After recovery, do not suffer the horse to become full and 
plethoric again, or the attack will be almost certain to return. 
A horse that has once had apoplexy is more subject to it 
ever afterward. The tendency will probable be to take on 
flesh and fat, but this must be carefully guarded against. 
Strong, rich food may bring on another attack in a few days. 

RABIES (hydrophobia, OR MADNESS). 

Of this awful disease we know nothing, except from the 
descriptions given of it in books. Among horses it is of 
rare occurrence, indeed, in America ; and we are persuaded 
it never has any origin independent of the bite of a mad dog. 
But even mad dogs are scarce animals; for, although they 
may occasionally be found in cities, the country is very sel- 
dom troubled with them. In our extended travels through 
twenty-two States of the Union, we never encountered a 
mad dog, nor so much as heard of more than a few authen- 
ticated cases. 



DISEASES OF THE BEAIN AND NEEVOUS SYSTEM. 253 

English writers say that it is dangerous to leave a dog iu 
the stable with the horse, lest he should go mad and bite the 
latter. N"o such fears are ever entertained in our favored 
laud, nor is there the least need that there should be. 

We rejoice to speak of this as so nearly a foreign disease 
only, for all veterinarians concur in pronouncing it incurable. 

FITS, OR EPILEPSY. 

Though seldom met with, epilepsy is not unknown in the 
United States. The horse suffering from tits approaches 
nearly to a condition of frenzy. He has a wild, fierce look, 
rears and pitches about, and is generally unmanageable from 
the very beginning of the attack. As the disease progresses, 
nervous tremblings seize him, and, at last, he falls down in 
utter stupor or fearful convulsions. The duration of these 
fits varies, in difierent cases, from a few minutes to a con- 
siderable length of time. 

After awhile the stupor passes away, or the convulsions 
cease. The horse gets up, shakes himself, as though nothing 
serious had happened, moves oft', and goes to eating. 

As to a cure, it is doubtful whether one has ever been 
eftected in a case of genuine epilepsy. Some authors bid 
the farmer set to work and discover the cause, and then tim- 
idly bid him hope for a cure. But we have yet to learn of 
such a discovery ever being made with any satisfactory de- 
gree of certainty. A horse that is subject to fits must be 
regarded as a dangerous possession, and the farmer will con- 
sult his own interest and the safety of his family by putting 
the poor creature beyond all opportunity of doing mischief. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN, OR PHRENITIS. 

This disease, though by no means a common one in this 
country, is encountered more frequently than epilepsy. It 
is of two kinds, or, rather, it may originate from two sources; 
first, from the brain itself, in which case it is called spon- 
taneous inflammation ; and, secondly, from some other dis- 
ease, when it is described as symptomatic. 



254 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The latter forms the only development of the disease with 
which we are practically acquainted. It is this which is the 
final cause of death in all fatal cases of the genuine blind 
staggers of the South. Occasionally apoplexy is attended 
by it, and acute rheumatism often produces slight cerebral 
inflammation. 

A case of spontaneous inflammation or fever of the brain 
we never saw. This form of the disease ma}^ occur in this 
country, but it is certainly very unfrequent. It can not be 
far wrong to characterize this as a European malady, and 
here again let the Englishman* tell his own story : 

" Primary inflammation of the brain or its membranes, or 
both, sometimes occurs, and of the membranes oftenest when 
both are not involved. 

" Whatever be the origin of phrenitis, its early symptoms 
are scarcely different from those of apoplexy. The horse is 
drows}' — stupid; his eye closes; he sleeps Avhile he is in the 
act of eating, and dozes until' he falls. The pulse is slow 
and creeping, and the breathing oppressed and laborious. 
This is the description of apoplexy. The symptoms may 
differ a little in intensit}^ and continuance, but not much in 
kind. 

" The phrenitic horse, however, is not so perfectly coma- 
tose as another that labors under apoplexy. The eye will 
respond a little to the action of light, and the animal is 
somewhat more manageable, or, at least, more susceptible, for 
he will shrink when he is struck, wdiile the other frequently 
cares not for the whip. 

" In the duration of the early symptoms there is some 
difference. If the apoplexy proceeds from distension of the 
stomach, twenty-four or thirty-six hours will scarcely' pass 
without the cure being completed, or the stomach ruptured, 
or the horse destroyed. If it proceeds more from oppression 
of the digestive organs than from absolute distension of the 
stomach, and from that sympathy which subsists between the 

*Youatt : American edition, p. 98. 



DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 255 

?tomacli and the brain, the disease will go on — it will be- 
come worse and worse every honr, and this imperfect coma- 
tose state will remain during two or three days. The apo- 
plexy of the phrcnitic horse will often run its course in a few 
hours. 

" Ih a case of evident phrenitis, blood-letting and physic 
must be early carried to their full extent. The horse will 
often be materially relieved, and, perhaps, cured, by this de- 
cisive treatment; but, if the golden hour has been suft'ered to 
pass, or if remedial measures have become ineifectual, the 
scene all at once changes, and the most violent reaction suc- 
ceeds. The eye brightens — strangely so; the membrane of 
the eye becomes suddenly reddened, and forms a frightful 
contrast with the transparency of the cornea; the pupil is 
dilated to the utmost; the nostril, before scarcely moving, 
expands and quivers, and labors ; the respiration becomes 
short and quick ; the ears are erect, or bent forward to catch 
the slightest sound ; and the horse, becoming more irritable 
every instant, trembles at the slightest motion. The irrita- 
bility of the patient increases — it may be said to change to 
ferocity — but the animal has no aim or object in what he 
does. He dashes himself violently about, plunges in every 
direction, rears on his hind legs, whirls round and round, 
and then falls backward with dreadful force. He lies for 
awhile exhausted ; there is a remission of the symptoms, but 
perhaps only for a minute or two, or possibly for a quarter 
of an hour. -^^ -^ ^ 

"The second attack is more dreadful than the first. Again 
the animal whirls round and round, and plunges and falls. 
He seizes his clothing and rends it in pieces ; perhaps, desti- 
tute of feeling and of consciousness, he bites and tears him- 
self. He darts furiously at every thing within his reach ; but 
no mind, no design, seems to mingle with or govern his 
fury. 

"Another and another remission and a return of the ex- 
acerbation follow, and then, wearied out, he becomes quiet ; 
but it is not the quietness of returning reason, it is mere 



256 AMEKICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

stupor. This continues for an uncertain period, and then he 
begins to struggle again ; but he is, probably, unable to rise. 
He pants, he foams ; at length, completely exhausted, he dies. 

" There are but two diseases with which phrenitis can be 
confounded, and they are cholic and rabies. In cholic, the 
horse rises and falls; he rolls about and kicks at his belly; 
but his struggles are tame compared with those of the phre- 
nitic horse. There is no involuntary spasm of any of the 
limbs ; the animal is perfectly sensible, and, looking piteously 
at his flanks, seems designedly to indicate the seat of pain. 
The beautiful yet fearfully-excited countenance of the one, 
and the piteous, anxious gaze of the other, are sufficiently 
distinct ; and, if it can be got at, the rapid, bounding pulse 
of the one, and that of the other scarcely losing its natural 
character in the early stage, can not be mistaken. 

" In rabies, when it does assume the ferocious form, there 
is even more violence than in phrenitis; but there is method, 
and treachery, too, in that violence. There is the desire of 
mischief for its own sake, and there is frequently the artful 
stratas:em to allure the victim within the reach of destruc- 
tiou. There is not a motion of which the rabid horse is not 
conscious, nor a person whom he does not recognize ; but he 
labors under one all-absorbing feeling — the intense longing 
to devastate and destroy." 

PALSY. 

A case of primary palsy we have not been called upon to 
treat in a practice of twenty years. The few cases of palsy 
which have come under our own observation have invariably 
been produced by other diseases, and always shared their 
fate. If the horse recovered from the other attack, the palsy 
passed away, but never otherwise. 

Palsy is occasioned b}^ the suspension or the cessation of 
nervous action. In the horse, it is generally considered to 
be the result of some injur}' of the spinal cord, in consequence 
of which the hips and thighs, and other parts of the hind ex- 
tremities, become partially paralyzed. 



DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 257 
TREATMENT. 

This would seem to be plainly indicated by the nature of 
the disease. Bleed two or three times, at intervals of ten 
days, drawing a gallon of blood the first time, and half as 
much at each successive bleeding. Physic actively. Give 
half an ounce of aloes in a pill, and, after a reasonable in- 
terval, follow this up with one- fourth of a pound of Epsom 
salts. 

iN'ow apply the magic nerve liniment, twice a day, to the 
back, near the junction of the hips with the spine. If this 
seems insufficient, substitute a daily application of the cor- 
rosive liniment for two or three days. 

If the weather is cold, cover the horse with a good, warm 
blanket, so as to protect him from it as much as possible. 
Nothing should be given as food but the lightest and most 
relaxing diet, provided it does not produce dysentery. Strong 
or heating food will be nearly certain to result in killing the 
horse. 

INSANITY. 

John Bull's horses, like his dogs, appear not only to suifer 
from affections of the brain to a much greater extent than 
do ours, but also to exhibit, now and then, the most singular 
and sometimes highly diverting idiosyncrasies. For any re- 
putable American author to descant upon the horse's insan- 
ity would lead most of his readers to question whether his 
own mental condition was much better; but, as a curious 
and entertaining episode in the history of veterinary science 
in other lands, we are tempted to close this chapter b}' draw- 
ing upon the already much-quoted pages of Youatt for the 
following anecdotes, which that distinguished writer intro- 
duces, by way of illustration, in his remarks upon " In- 
sanity:" 

"A horse, seven years old, was remarkable for an habitual 
air of stupidity, and a peculiar wandering expression of coun- 
tenance. When he saw any thing that he had not been accus- 
tomed to, or heard 'any sudden or unusual noise, whether it 
17 



258 AMERICAN FARMEK'S HORSE BOOK. 

was near or at a distance, or sometimes when his corn was 
thrown into the manger without the precaution of speaking 
to him or patting him, he was frightened to an almost in- 
credible degree ; he recoiled precipitately, every limb trem- 
bled, and he struggled violently to escape. After several 
useless efforts to get away, he would work himself into the 
highest degree of rage, so that it was dangerous to approach 
him. This state of excitement was followed by dreadful con- 
vulsions, which did not cease until he had broken his halter, 
or otherwise detached himself from his trammels. He would 
then become calm, and suffer himself to he led back to his 
stall ; nor would any thing more be seen than an almost con- 
tinual inquietude, and a wandering and stupid expression of 
countenance. He had belonged to a brutal soldier, Avho had 
beaten him shamefully, and before which time he had been 
perfectly quiet and tractable. 

"A Piedmontese officer possessed a beautiful and, in other 
respects, serviceable mare, but which one peculiarity ren- 
dered exceedingly dangerous — that was a decided aversion 
to paper, which she recognized the moment she saw it, and 
even in the dark if two leaves were rubbed together. The 
effect produced by the sight or sound of it was so prompt 
and violent that she several times unhorsed her rider. She 
had not the slightest fear of objects that would terrify most 
horses. She regarded not the music of the baud, the whist- 
ling of the balls, the roaring of the cannon, the fire of the 
bivouacs, or the glittering of arms. The confusion and noise 
of an engagement made no impression on her; the sight of 
no other white object affected her. No other sound was re- 
garded, but the view or the rustling of paper roused her to 
madness. 

"A mare was perfectly manageable and betrayed no an- 
tipathy to the human being, nor to other animals, nor to 
horses, except they were of a light-gray color ; but the mo- 
ment she saw a gray horse, she rushed toward it, and at- 
tacked it with the greatest fury. It was the same at all times, 
and every-where. She was all that could be wished on the 



DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 259 

parade, on tlie rout, in the ranks, in action, and in the stable; 
but if she once caught a glimpse of a gray or white horse, 
she rested not until she had thrown her rider or broken her 
halter, and then she rushed on her imagined foe with the 
greatest fury. She generally contrived to seize the animal by 
the head or throat, and held him so fast that she would suf- 
focate him, if he were not prompt!}' released from her bite. 

"Another mare exhibited no terror except of white, inani- 
mate objects, as white mantles or coats, and particularly 
white plumes. She would fly from them if she could; but if 
she was unable to accomplish this, she would rush furiously 
upon them, strike at them with her fore-feet, and tear them 
with her teeth. 

" These instances are selected from various others, because 
they approach so nearly to what would be termed insanity in 
the human being. It is confined to one object — it is a species 
of monomania, and as decided insanity as ever the biped dis- 
covered. One of these horses, the second, was, by long and 
kind attention, divested of this insane terror, and became 
perfectly quiet and useful; but the other three bid defiance 
to ail means of cure, and to coercion among the rest." 



260 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER X. 



DISEASES "OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 

The cut represents the palate aud the teeth of the upper 
jaw of the mature horse. It shows the six incisors, or nippers ; 
the two canine teeth, or tushes — sometimes called bridle-teeth; 

and the twelve molars, or grind- 
ers. Upon one side of the roof 
of the mouth is a natural view 
of the bars of the palate, and 
upon the other is indicated the 
appearance which would be pre- 
sented if the bars were dissected 
off so as to reveal the intricate 
net- work of blood-vessels and 
nerves below. 

Careful observation has con- 
vinced us that the teeth of the 
horse are much oftener the 
source of suffering and disease 
than is generally believed. In 
speaking of this subject, Youatt 
says : " Horsemen, in general, 
think too lightly of dentition 
[teething], aud they scarcely 
dream of the animal suffering 
to any considerable degree, or 
absolute illness being produced; yet he who has to do with 
young horses will occasionally discover a considerable degree 
of febrile affection, which he can refer to this cause alone. 
Fever, cough, catarrhal affections generally, disease of the 
eyes, cutaneous affections, diarrhea, dysentery, loss of appe- 




DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 261 

tite, and general derangement will frequently' be traced bj 
the careful observer to irritation from teething. 

"It is a rule, scarcely admitting of the slightest deviation, 
that, when young horses are laboring under any febrile af- 
fection, the mouth should be examined, and if the tushes are 
prominent and pushing against the gums, a crucial incision 
[that is, one in the form of a cross] should be made across 
them. 'In this way,' says Mr. Percivall, 'I have seen ca- 
tarrhal and bronchial inflammations abated, coughs relieved, 
lymphatic and other glandular tumors about the head reduced, 
cutaneous eruptions got rid of, deranged bowels restored to 
order, appetite returned, and lost condition repaired.' " 

Possibly the effect which this extract is calculated to pro- 
duce is hardly distinguishable from that of an over-statement, 
and yet few experienced veterinary practitioners would un- 
dertake to dispute the general correctness of these views. 

The colt cuts his first front teeth when very young, which 
operation is called teething. After this, at different stages of 
his growth, these are displaced by a new set, larger and better 
adapted to the needs of the mature horse. For the sake of 
convenience, this process is distinguished by the name of 
shedding. 

The horse has, or should have, w^hen fully grown, forty 
teeth — in each jaw, six nippers, two tushes, and twelve 
grinders. In the mare, the tushes are either not developed 
at all, or else do not make their appearance before old age, 
although bony protuberances, corresponding to them, are hid- 
den below the gums. The tush is a long, sharp tooth, occupy- 
ing a position on each side of the jaw, between the nippers 
and grinders, but somewhat nearer the former than to the 
back teeth. What a great many farmers call blind teeth, and 
ignorantly imagine to be the cause of almost numberless 
ills, come on the lower jaw between the bridle-teeth and 
grinders. 

The changes which the teeth undergo before attaining 
their full development, with the derangements which attend 
these changes, will first claim our attention. 



262 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

TEETHING, OR DENTITION. 

When the foal is born into the world, no teeth are visible 
except the first and second grinders, on each side, above and 
below, making eiffht in all ; or sometimes these do not ap- 
pear for two or three days afterward. He cuts the remain- 
ing teeth in succession, at various intervals ; so that the milk 
teeth — the first set — are not all developed until he is in his 
third year. 

It is not our purpose, in this connection, to describe the 
methods of telling the age of a horse by his teeth, that sub- 
ject being reserved for Cliapter XIX. The diseases of the 
teeth and mouth form what we have now to consider. 

The cutting of nearly thirty teeth, however lightly it may 
be regarded by the stock-raiser, is certainly a matter of no 
small moment to the colt. While it is true that Nature pre- 
pares the gums, in a great measure, for this process, if any one 
will take the trouble to examine the mouth and gums of the 
colt while it is going on, he will probably be astonished to 
find how hot and feverish these parts are. During the period 
of suckling, the milk of the mother tends greatly to counter- 
act the evil effects of teething, and, at this period, Nature 
will seldom need any assistance in the way of other diet, or 
medication of any kind. But, after weaning, all through 
what remains of teething, and the entire process of shed- 
ding, the young animal does not fare so well, and a variety 
of disorders lie in wait for him, making this the most crit- 
ical period of his whole life. 

It is undoubtedly a wise and kindly provision of Nature 
that the colt's teeth do not all come at once; for, if that ; 
were the case, such would be the severity of the operation > 
that very few, probably, would live through it. As it is, the '^ 
soreness and inflammation occasioned by the cutting of one I 
pair has time to subside, and the gums are allowed time to ' 
heal over oefore any more come through. It is worthy of 
remark, also, that dentition does not so seriously aflect the 
horse as either the human species or the dog. 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 263 

The colt's nippers are not set in the jaw-bones, as a great 
many suppose they are, but rest upon them in a sort of sad- 
dle-fashion, and are attached to the jaw by a bony adhesion, 
liaving a small, shallow socket, but no appearance of fangs 
or roots, like the permanent teeth. This setting, however, 
is sufficiently firm for all the purposes that N'ature intended 
the colt to use the teeth for, embracing scarcely any thing 
more than the procuring of such food as grass, hay, oats, 
and other provender easily masticated. But hard food, such 
as corn, especially when it is fed in the ear, does very ma- 
terially injure his teeth. The great strain to which its 
mastication subjects them is exceedingly liable to produce 
soreness and inflammation that, in turn, often become the 
exciting causes of other forms of disease, especially of those 
whose seat is in the head. 

SHEDDING. 

Closely connected with teething, and, in the beginning, 
coincident with the latter stages of that operation, is the 
process of shedding, which is the replacement of the milk 
by the permanent teeth. The first set of teeth do not come 
out, and the lacerated gums then heal over, as is the case 
with children, but the second tooth comes up immediately 
under the first one, and lifts it entirely out of the gums. 
What is still more remarkable, while this is going on, the 
under part of the milk tooth is being gradually ground or 
worn ofl:', and its substance absorbed by the surrounding 
parts, so that there is but a small portion of it left by the 
time the permanent tooth reaches the top of the gums. As 
the under tooth comes up from its bed in the jaw, the gums, 
being lifted up with it, retain their hold upon the other -un- 
til the second is near enough through to subserve the needs 
of the animal in eating ; then, all at once, the gums peel ofi* 
from the upper tooth, which drops out, and they now sink 
down around the new one ; their swelling and sorenesa sub- 
side, and all is right in the mouth again. 

For a considerable time previous to their removal, the po- 



264 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

sition of the milk teeth is by no means a firm one, as they 
are only retained in their places by the adhesion of the gums. 
Every hard substance that comes in contact with them is 
likely to move or twist them about. 

Soreness and inflammation almost invariably accompany 
shedding. Perhaps there is no time, until this operation is 
over, that the mouth and gums are wholly free from fever 
and swelling. The bad condition of many young colts, fol- 
lowing loss of flesh and appetite, may be traced to these cir- 
cumstances. It is easy to test the matter by examining the 
parts. Nor is the loss of appetite the only or chief difficulty 
in such cases. The character of the saliva undergoes an in- 
jurious change from the feverish influences of the mouth and 
gums, and, being carried to the stomach in this condition, 
it naturally produces derangement of the digestive process. 
1^0 doubt many a serious disease of the mature horse origin- 
ated at this period of his life, and is largely attributable to 
the effects of shedding. 

TREATMENT. 

Not much either can or should be done in the way of med- 
ication while the colt is teething and shedding. The great 
consideration is his diet, and to this too much attention 
can not well be paid. Keep away from him solid and heat- 
ing food, and let him have only such a moist, light diet as 
can easily be supplied him in winter, by provender, cut feed, 
and small quantites of oats ; while for the summer season, 
pasture is not only the most readily procurable food, but is 
immeasurably the best. 

In the cotton States, where pastures are poor and scanty, 
it is almost impossible to raise a colt by any ordinary degree 
of care. There the young creatures are generally fed on 
corn, and on corn fodder, which is still worse, and the large 
majority of them become diseased and die. They are not 
unfrequently troubled with big head, though such is the 
vigor of the system at this age that they withstand its at- 
tacks much better than old horses. Green grass we consider 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH xVND MOUTH. 265 

essential to the liealtli and natural power of the horse of all 
ages. 

Salting is another important matter. Salt is medicine to 
the horse, and to the colt especially. If fed in a trough or 
manger, give the unthrifty colt some sulphur, from time to 
time. It will aid much to restore health and condition. Be- 
fore this, however, it will have heen well to examine his 
mouth, and, if there is marked heat and soreness ahout 
the gums, it is pretty surely an indication of teething. 
Two incisions, at right angles, made by drawing a sluirp 
knife across the gum, just above the tooth, will give great 
relief. 

The very frequent belching of wind, which may be noticed 
in some horses and colts, betrays a very common source of 
annoyance and suiferino;. This is a sour stomach. Per- 
haps the teething colt is, most of all, subject to it, caused by 
the action of the changed saliva, which is continually flow- 
ing from the feverish mouth into the stomach. Fermenta- 
tion of the food is one of the evil effects of this action. To 
correct this, it is desirable that some good wood ashes be 
kept in the animal's trough with his oats. In a majority of 
cases, their alkaline properties would entirely neutralize the 
acid condition of the stomach, in the same manner as the 
milk of the mother does this for the colt before he is weaned. 

BLIND TEETH. 

Blind teeth are still, to many uninformed persons, the 
source of an anxiety amounting almost to terror. Yet they 
seldom do any material injury, and never in the way that 
they are supposed to do. It is not probable that they are 
ever the real cause of any kind of disease. Some farmers 
imagine that they bring on the peculiar enlargement of big 
head, especially in the colt; and if the eyes are at all sus- 
pected, the first thing done is to look for blind teeth, and 
the next to knock them out. Many a blind tooth has the 
writer removed at the imperative bidding of credulous own- 
ers, whom no amount of argument could satisfy that such an 



266 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Operation was not at all necessary to "stop the big head," or 
"save the eyes." 

True, they are often in the wa}^, and never of the least 
service, and, for these reasons, it is best to extract them. 
But there is no ground for supposing them instrumental in 
developing other diseases, any further than they may excite 
local irritation and soreness in cutting, although this effect 
is less marked in their case than in that of the other teeth. 

Mares do not have them, unless a peculiar growth of the 
jaw-bone, which is occasionally seen at the point whore they 
usually come through, can be called such. !N"either do a 
great many horses. In most instances, the appearance is 
rather that of a bony enlargement on the top of the jaw- 
bone than that of a real tooth, and the gum is frequently 
not cut through at all. Blind teeth seem to have no socket, 
fang, or nerve, and are to be regarded as intruders only. 

DECAY OF THE TEETH. 

The teeth of horses, like those of human beings, are sub- 
ject to decay. In common parlance, they become rotten, 
which is just the same condition that the dentist refers to 
when he speaks of " caries " of the teeth. The horse's front 
teeth sometimes show signs of decay, but generally it is the 
jaw teeth, the molars, which are affected. 

It may be a novel idea to many farmers, and, perhaps, still 
more so to the charming portion of creation represented by 
their wives and daughters, but it is a fact that the horse not 
unfrequently suffers from toothache. This is one of the 
causes which so often make him suddenly drop the corn, or 
other hard feed, from his mouth while eating. The owner or 
attendant generally sets this down as indicating some nat- 
ural disrelish for the food at that particular time, w^hereas the 
fact very often is, that he has hurt his tooth. Having no 
hand to press to his mouth, the poor animal is allowed to 
suffer without there being so much as a suspicion of what 
the trouble really is. 

A disordered condition of the stomach has much to do with 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 267 

the premature decay of the teeth. The foul gases which it 
gives ofl", when there is fermentation of the food, exert a very 
detrimental eftect upon the teeth. Similar consequences fol- 
low the reprehensible practice of giving the horse strong 
mineral poisons, such as copperas, blue stone, calomel, corro- 
sive sublimate, arsenic, and many others. These have a ten- 
dency to destroy the enamel, and corrode and ruin the teeth. 

TREATMENT. 

We know of nothing to be done in the case of a decayed 
tooth except to extract it. This should be done, if at all 
practicable. Have made a pair of pullers on the principle of 
the keyed instrument used in dentistry, but larger and 
stronger, of course; and while an assistant holds open the 
horse's mouth, the operator can fasten on the decayed tooth 
and draw it. If the horse is vicious or restless, it will be 
necessary to fasten his head, so that he can not move it about. 
The operator may stand on a bench or box, so as to work to 
better advantage. 

The horse's teeth should not be extracted except in ex- 
treme cases, when the fact admits of no doubt that they are 
the occasion of acute suffering. The practice of driving out 
the teeth with a punch or hammer ought not to be counte- 
nanced, and is only justifiable in those rare instances where a 
proper instrument can not be procured. 

As one of the causes of decay, the condition of the stom- 
ach should receive careful attention. A hot, fetid breath, 
the tongue of a whitish-purple color, the saliva of the mouth 
thick and stringy — these are the indications of derangement 
of the digestive functions. The proper remedies now will be 
sulphur and " jimson" seed. Of the former, give four ounces 
every other day ; of the latter, one ounce every third day. 
Four doses of each, at the intervals here prescribed, will be 
sufiicient. Pulverized yellow poplar bark, or green limbs 
from the tree, may be used for the same purpose, and in the 
same manner as will shortly be directed for scurvy of the 
teeth. 



268 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. ' 



SCURVY OF THE TEETH. 

The teeth of old horses, in most cases the front teetli only, 
sometimes become covered with ridges of white scurf, or 
calcarious, limy deposits, which extend downward to the 
gums and keep them continually sore and inflamed. The 
trouble is not wholly incident to old age, for it sometimes 
aifects young horses also. 

Its causes, in nearly all cases, are very similar to those of 
decay. In fact, scurvy of the teeth is only one form which 
their decay assumes, the deposits of the decayed tootb re- 
maining upon its surface. In the fermentation of the food, 
that so often follows high feeding and other causes of de- 
ranged digestive action, carbonic acid gas is generated in con- 
siderable quantities, and is belched up from the stomach. 
The teeth are mainly composed of the phosphate of lime, 
and when this gas unites with the lime which they contain, 
there results a scaly incrustation of carbonate of lime. 

Mineral poisons constitute a powerful agent in producing 
scurvy of the teeth, no less than other forms of decay. 

TREATMENT. 

The first and most important part of the treatment consists 
in the regulation of so much of the digestive process as is 
conducted in the stomach, whose sourness must be promptly 
corrected. Sulphur and "jimson" seed will admirably serve 
this purpose, as indicated in the last section. The former 
acts as a mild alterative, and is the best regulator of the 
horse's system that we know of. 

Good wood ashes should be kept in the manger. Yellow 
poplar bark, well pulverized, will prove an excellent adjunct 
in this part of the treatment. If kept constantly in the 
place where the horse feeds, he will eat considerable quanti- 
ties of it from time to time. In some of the Southern States, 
it is customary to put long poles of green poplar in the stable, 
in front of the horse, and in a little while he has the bark 
eaten off them entirely. The bark of the poplar is a most 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 269 

excellent tonic, and he is quite fond of it when green. In- 
stinct teaches the horse a hundred things which man dis- 
covers only after laborious investigation, experiment, and 
reasoning. "When diseased, if he is permitted to run where 
there are an abundance of bushes, he may very frequently 
be seen nibbling away at such of them as possess medicinal 
qualities, and especially those which act as tonics and astrin- 
gents. 

It will do no good to apply any thing to the teeth until 
the stomach is in proper condition ; but this end having been 
secured, it will be quite in order to remove their calcarious 
deposits. This can be effectually done with a brush and a 
mixture of tartaric acid with fine salt. The use of the latter 
is to prevent the injurious effects of the acid upon the teeth, 
in a measure. Some ashes, or a weak lye made from them, 
may be used after this mixture, to still further counteract the 
acid. But we must here record our emphatic objections to 
the employment of any acids or caustics about the teeth. 
Their eifects can not be wholly neutralized, and thus, while 
they may remove one difficulty, they are sure to bring on 
another. 

Some persons are in the habit of filing the teeth that are 
afiiected with scurvj^, and this is an operation which may be 
performed with decided benefit. After the incrustation has 
been removed with the file, the teeth will present a rough, 
jagged, appearance, and are in fine condition to favor the 
accumulation of more deposits. This may be remedied by 
using a second and much smaller file, or a piece of coarse 
sand-paper, followed by a piece of fine sand-paper. The 
beautiful enamel which disease has destroyed no art can re- 
place; but the surface can be given a smooth polish that 
will be of great service, as a substitute for it, in resisting the 
eft'ects of wear and decay. 

The process is a simple and easy one. It requires a twitch 
on the horse's nose, and one man to hold it and turn the 
lip down, while the operator, with a file, broken off at the 
end, scrapes off the incrustations from the teeth, and, after 



270 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

polishing them with sand-paper, oils them with a little sweet 
oil. This includes all that is to be done. 

We have devoted more space to these branches of our sub- 
ject than, at first, it was our intention to do. To this we 
have been impelled by the considerations that the general 
health of the horse is so intimatel}" connected with the con- 
dition of the teeth, and that so little account is commonly 
taken of this fact by horsemen. Especially are they apt to 
overlook the injuries sometimes sustained by the colt from 
the operations of teething and shedding. If the stock-raiser 
will reflect for a moment upon the sufi'ering entailed upon 
the child by the first of these processes, and how often dis- 
ease and death result from it, and then consider how much 
the experience of his young colts may resemble this case in 
the human subject, it would pretty surely be of material ad- 
vantage to his growing stock. Poor, feeble colts, with rough 
hair, thin flanks, staggering gait, and loss of appetite, would 
be cared for with better, because more intelligent, regard to 
their real wants. 

We have recommended the following course to be pursued 
on stock farms, and the system can be carried out quite as 
easily on a smaller scale. In the pasture, or in the stable- 
yard, let there be placed long troughs, and salt kept con- 
stantly in them, or at least placed in them once a week. 
Wood ashes should be mingled with the salt, and together 
they will correct an}' tendency to indigestion in nearly all 
instances. Sulphur should be used abundantly at the same 
time; for its properties as an alterative are unrivaled. 

STUMP-SUCKING, CRIB-BITING, AND WIND-SUCKING. 

The strange habit known as " stump-sucking," which some 
horses have, is not well understood. We have seen and ex- 
amined a great many animals that were addicted to it, es- 
pecially colts, but must acknowledge that we know not to 
what cause to refer it with positiveness. It is said to be 
more common in the Northern States than at the South, and 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 271 

Btill more so in some European countries. In the Southern 
States the practice has received the name of " stump-suck- 
ing," from the fact that the stable-lots in which stock run a 
great deal of their time are very often filled with old stumps 
of trees, and upon these the horse exercises his singular pro- 
pensity. The same strange actions are manifested in older 
sections by gnawing the crib or manger, and hence the term 
" crib-biting." Still a third name is given the habit in many 
parts of the country, that of "wind-sucking," from a pecu- 
liarity of some " stump-suckers," of violently drawing in air 
through the teeth. 

The affection, whatever it may really be, appears to come 
on by " spells," or at particular times which have no regu- 
lar or periodic recurrence. When the attack does come on, 
however, the poor creature rushes up to the nearest object 
that will serve his purpose — a stump, a rail, the crib, or the 
manger — with such haste as though his very life depended 
upon it, and, seizing it with his teeth, stands biting the wood, 
or leans back and pulls with all the strength that the teeth 
will bear. 

Wind-sucking is not so common an eccentricity, but when 
it does occur is really distressing to witness. We are not 
aware that it has ever been described by any writer upon 
the diseases of the horse, but we have seen the operation a 
number of times. The horse looks around him for a mo- 
ment, with a wild, hurried look, and then, with a sudden 
start, lays hold of some hard substance, and grips it with his 
teeth with all the power he possesses. Straightening his 
neck and falling back upon his haunches, he hangs with his 
teeth to the wood, and sucks in the air through his throat 
with such force as to produce a loud, roaring noise, that may 
sometimes be heard nearly one-fourth of a mile away. At the 
same time the most awful groans escape him, almost as 
though "the very ribs of Nature were bursting in." At in- 
tervals he holds his breath, until the spectator begins to fear 
lest it should be gone forever. Then, with a slow, measured 
groan, increasing to a roar, he recommences to suck the wind. 



272 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

"With such an efibrt is this performed, that his lips fairly 
quiver, his sides tremble, and his flanks putf in and out, like 
a horse that has been running at the top of his speed. His 
ears are thrown back, with an angry look, like a stubborn 
mule, pulling at the halter with all his might. He shakes, 
trembles, groans, and sucks wind at the same instant. Pres- 
ently the muscles of the jaw relax and give way, unable any 
longer to endure the strain, and the horse either falls to the 
ground or staggers wildly for a moment. This breaks the 
spell ; he turns round, and walks off or begs for something 
to eat, as though nothing particular had haj^pened. 

In some cases, the horse rests the .ends of his front teeth 
upon some hard, firm surface, with the extremities of the 
jaws separated about half an inch, and the tongue between 
them, and so remains, pressing his teeth with all the weight 
of his head and strength of his neck. These paroxysms, as 
they may be called, last from ten to forty minutes, and vary 
greatly in intensity. Occasionally they are very light, and 
the horse does nothing more than press his teeth upon the 
object, or merely grips it with them, for a short time. 

The most inveterate case we ever knew was that of an old 
horse belonging to Mr. Thomas Bay, of Haywood County, 
Tennessee. He was a stump-sucker for many years, and we 
have often heard him suck wind and groan at the distance 
of at least one-eighth of a mile. He lived until he was 
twenty years old, and was always in good working condition. 

By many this strange affection is considered one of the 
vices, or, at least, a most disagreeable habit of the horse, and 
such, perhaps, his nibblings of the manger may sometimes 
be. But when the practice is accompanied by the actions 
above described, we are satisfied that it should properly be 
classed among the animal's diseases, and venture the oj^inion 
that it proceeds from a disordered condition of the teeth, 
probably some neuralgic affection. It is most likely that the 
sufferer has somehow discovered that, by pressing his teeth 
upon some hard substance, or by biting and pulling with 
them, he can obtain relief. "When one has been salivated, 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 273 

and is suffering tortures from sore teeth and gums, if a small 
chip or piece of stick be held between the teeth and they 
be closed forcibly upon it, the abatement of pain will be in- 
stantaneous and great. May not the stump-sucking horse 
be merely resorting to the same expedient to secure temjDO- 
rary relief from suffering of a similar character ? It is not 
difficult to understand how grateful such relief would be to 
an animal in that state, nor how pleasureable a sensation it 
might be to cool the hot and feverish gums by drawing the 
air rapidly through the teeth. 

We strongly incline to the belief that the affection is a 
disease not only of the teeth and gums, but also embracing 
the membrane (the periosteum) covering the fangs of the 
former, and of the nerves of the adjacent regions. 

One fact in the symptoms is very prominent : the horse 
evidently suffers during the paroxysms, and, as before stated, 
is sometimes even convulsed by spasms. Another is that he 
generally loses flesh and strength, becomes low in condition, 
and can not be made to thrive. 

TREATMENT. 

This should be directed to the teeth and gums. Try the 
effects of wetting the front teeth with the magic nerve lini- 
ment, morning and night, for at least ten days. Apply the 
liniment with a small mop to the top of the teeth, and 
enough will run dowm upon the surrounding gums. If the 
horse is inclined to plethora, bleed once, taking about three 
quarts of blood. In mild cases, this treatment will often 
prove of marked benefit. 

A confirmed stump or wdnd sucker is undoubtedly impaired 
for usefulness in nearly all cases, and his market value ma- 
terially diminished. We have treated the subject at this 
length in the hope that the suggestions here thrown out 
may be the means of eliciting the true facts in relation to 
the nature and causes of this singular affection. 
18 



274 AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



LAMPAS. 

This is an ailment principally incident to young horses, 
and was an object of great alarm to the farriers of former 
times. It is simply an inflammation of the muscles in the 
front part of the roof of the mouth. These have the form 
of a succession of little ridges — or bars, as they are called — 
running across the surface of that part, and constitute an 
extension of the palate. Their appearance, so familiar to 
every practical horseman, is tolerably well represented in the 
cut which we have introduced in the beginning of this chap- 
ter. The bars serve the purpose of assisting the tongue in 
moving the particles of food backward to the jaw teeth, there 
to be properly masticated. 

That portion of the muscle next to the front teeth some- 
times swells, until it extends downward not only to the level 
of the teeth, but, it may be, even beyond them. It becomes 
very sore, and greatly annoys the horse in eating, especially 
if his food consists of such hard substances as corn, oats, 
and timothy hay. He shows the pain which their pressure 
occasions by often dropping the food from his mouth. 

Such inflammation is apt to arise from the soreness that 
accompanies teething, and which is communicated to the 
bars in the adjoining parts of the mouth. This is the reason 
why the young horses are more subject to it than the older 
ones. But changes of some kind are continually going on 
in the mouth ; the teeth, after the operations of teething and 
shedding are done with, begin to wear away, and, after a 
time, they commence to fall out, and the gums sink down 
around them. As a general thing, the horse is free from 
lampas between the ages of five and eight years ; but, at the 
latter period, the wearing oft' of the teeth becomes more 
marked and rapid, the gums have noticeably shrunk, and this 
disease is apt to appear again. 

"We think there is a tendency on the part of most late 
writers on veterinary practice to underrate the injurious 
efi^ects produced by lampas. A marked derangement of the 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 275 

digestive process would be no more than miglit reasonably 
be expected from the constant How of the unhealthy saliva 
secreted by the feverish mouth and gums ; and observation 
plainly teaches that w^hen horses have been long troubled 
with lampas, they are likely to be found in bad condition, 
thin in flesh, and with a staring coat of hair. 

TREATMENT. 

In many cases, lampas will disappear of itself. If not, 
scarification is the first thing to be done. This should be 
performed with the point of a very sharp knife, the object 
being to relieve the overloaded vessels of the superabun- 
dance of blood they contain. Great care must be taken not 
to make the incisions too deep, or back of the third bar, just 
behind which an artery approaches very near to the surface, 
that will be quite difiicult to close, if it should be severed 
in this operation. Should such an accident happen, the 
bleeding can be stopped by tying a strong cord around the 
upper front teeth, close to the gums, and drawing it very 
tightly. This will close the orifice, and check the hemor- 
rliage at once. 

The use of some mild astringent will form the proper con- 
tinuance of the treatment. Alkaline solutions will often 
meet the requirements of the case when nothing else will. 
Make a strong solution of chlorate of potash — one ounce of 
the chlorate to two ounces of rain-water — and with this wash 
the mouth and gums every morning. 

If the general health of the horse is not good, it may be 
well to bleed once from the jugular, and give the usual alter- 
atives — sulphur and resin — or the powders mentioned in Sec- 
tion YII, of Chapter XXIV. 

We must add our emphatic concurrence in the condem- 
nation expressed by all respectable veterinarians in regard 
to the brutal custom of burning the bars of the mouth for 
the cure of lampas. Much of the sense of taste and of the 
enjoyments of eating reside in this part of the mouth, and 
the bars are of great service, as before stated, in moving the 



276 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

food about during mastication. To burn them, therefore, is 
not only an act of great cruelty, but is really a permanent 
injury. Besides this, the hot iron often comes in contact 
with the teeth, and destroys their enamel, when they soon 
begin to decay. Caustics are equally objectionable to the 
mouth, and to the teeth still more so. There is not the least 
excuse for resorting to either of these modes of treatment, 
for the swelling can readily be removed by the courses pre- 
scribed above. 



DISEASES OF THE THEOAT. 277 



CHAPTER XL 

DISEASES OF THE THEOAT. 

Diseases of the throat and respiratory organs are very 
common among the horses of our climate, which is so vari- 
able, and subject to such great extremes of temperature in a 
short time, that twenty-four hours is sometimes enough to 
plunge one from summer heat into the severity of winter. 
Perhaps the valley of the Mississippi has, in this respect, one 
of the least desirable climates within the temperate zone. 
During much of the year, also, the atmosphere is very damp, 
especially in the winter and spring seasons. The horse has 
nothing but the superior strength of his system, enabling 
him better to resist unfavorable influences, to entitle him to 
any exemption from most of the diseases of humanity, and 
this advantage is apt to be fully overbalanced by the greater 
exposure he is compelled to undergo. Hence we find that 
the horse's throat and air-passages are as subject to disease 
as most other parts of his body, and nearly as much so as 
those of the human being in the same latitudes. 

COLDS. 

This is the simplest and most common of the class of dis- 
orders under consideration, as well in the horse as with his 
master. When we consider the great and sometimes pro- 
longed exposure of the horse, it is astonishing that he does 
not take cold more frequently than he does. There are 
many farmers — and it is something for which every humane 
person must be thankful that their number is constantly in- 
creasing — who are as careful concerning their teams as the 
nature of their duties will permit ; and who, knowing the 
advantages of good, sufficient, and regular feeding, of oom- 



278 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

fortable stables, and of warm blankets at the proper time, 
practically improve that knowledge in the habitual manage- 
ment and keeping of their stock. Such exemplify the Scrip- 
tural proverb that " a merciful man is merciful to his be?st," 
and are repaid thrice over, in a pecuniary point of view alone, 
for their humanity. 

But, to the shame of our race, this class does not embrace 
all horse owners. Let us put a case, such as has its counter- 
part ever}^ winter in nearly every neighborhood in our laud. 
The horse is forced to his utmost speed through mud and 
water, storm and sleet, that his master may the sooner reach 
home, there to exchange the pelting storm and piercing blast 
for a comfortable room, a blazing tire, and a downy bed. 
The horse, however, is either put into a cold, open stable, or 
is turned into the yard, where the mud is knee-deep. His 
blood is boiling from the severity with which he has been 
driven ; the snow and sleet melt upon his back ; freezing 
winds chill his whole frame, and, through all the dreary 
night, he stands out in the weather, shivering and shaking 
with cold. IlText morning he is found on the sheltered side 
of a straw stack, or in some fence-corner — his body drawn 
up almost in a heap, his hind and fore-feet almost together, 
his ears half drawn back, and his whole appearance the very 
picture of misery. As the thoughtless master, (for let us be 
charitable, and suppose his cruelty is not really intentional,) 
at a late hour, makes his appearance with the morning feed, 
the plaintive whicker, the dull eye brightening a little, with 
evident effort, and the -stiffened, tired limbs well-nigh refusing 
obedience to the will, show too plainly the mischief that has 
been done : the horse has taken cold. How could he help it? 

But the weather moderates, the warm sun shines out, and 
the horse appears as well, or nearly so, as ever. Time passes, 
and that dreadful night is forgotten by the owner, who never 
once has thought of connecting with it the idea of any in- 
jury to his horse. After a time, however — a week, a fort- 
night, or a month — we hear the somewhat alarmed remark, 
"I wonder what has given my horse such a cough?" Or, 



DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 279 

" 'Sly horse had a dreadful attack of colic last uight, and 
came near dying. He has not been subject to colic. I won- 
der what could have caused it?" Or, "I have noticed, for a 
fev/ days, that he has been running at the nose. What can 
be the matter?" Or, "One of his eyes is terribly inflamed 
this morning, and is running water. I begin to fear his 
eight is not so sound as I thought it was." And so one 
might go on enumerating a dozen ailments that, at ?uch a time, 
are liable to excite the surprise and anxiety of the master. 

M}' dear, and now deeply-interested friend, just set your 
wits to work, and see if you can not discover a cause for all 
this. If you fail in this, come with me, and let us counsel 
together ; for, " in the multitude of counsel, there is safety.'' 

Together, we may perhaps be enabled to connect eftect 
with cause, and thus arrive at the origin of the whole 
trouble. Let us go backward, in memor}^, for a few weeks, 
to that hard drive, that bitter cold night, and that over- 
heated, steaming horse, exposed to all its severities, and then 
to the next morning, when you found him in the fence cor- 
ner, or behind the straw-stack, quaking with the cold. Look 
at him again, my honest friend, as he stands there, with such 
a pitiful, beseeching look, drawn and doubled up, and that 
pleading, imploring whicker for better treatment, as you 
come out to his mud-lot to give him a feed of corn in a 
trough half filled with snow, and in the full sweep of the 
wind, at the highest part of the lot. Need you wonder that 
your horse is sick? Would not such exposure be a sufficient 
explanation of an attack of illness, or perhaps a death-bed, 
in your own case? But you say, "I am not a horse, and 
that is the difference." True : but ^ horse is flesh and blood, 
and his physical being is governed by the same laws as is 
yours ; and, after all, a horse is capable of bearing but lit- 
tle more exposure than a man. 

And now, for your own good, and for the improvement 
of your future practice, let me say, kindly, yet firmly, what 
is patent to every discriminating veterinarian : "This is work 
of your own doing. You are the responsible party; and, if 



280 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

the liorse has sickened, and should die from such treatment, 
it is you who have killed him, and that just as surely as 
though you had broken his neck, or taken an ax and split 
open his skull." We are of th'e deliberate opinion that two- 
thirds of the cases of lung and throat diseases in the horse 
are the offspring of bad treatment, of unnecessary exposure, 
and of colds contracted by neglect and unkindness. 

It will not be difficult to trace the connection between 
cause and effect, so as to get, at least, some proximate idea 
of how these exposures and colds form the beginnings of so 
many serious attacks of disease. The powerful efforts which 
Nature makes to throw off the consequences of the bad treat- 
ment inflicted on the dumb sufferer, only serve to lull sus- 
picion to rest. Nevertheless, these very efforts are often the 
sure means of producing local or specific disease. Their ef- 
fects are extremely likely to concentrate upon some particu- 
lar part or member of the body — the nose, head, brain, throat, 
lungs, stomach, bowels, feet, the glands, skin, tissues, mem- 
branes, tendons, joints, bones — we know not what portion 
may suffer; but rarely will the horse escape without some 
of them becoming involved. It would be impossible, in most 
instances, to assign a positive reason why any particular 
organ suft'ers more than another. Possibl}' it has been weak- 
ened by some strain or lesion of the parts ; but of this we 
can seldom speak with certainty. 

All the vessels and passages of the body are liable to be 
more or less deranged in action for the time being, if not 
permanently injured, from the efiects of the circumstances 
we are considering; the pores of the skin are closed; the 
capillaries are congested ; the secretions cease to flow ; the 
blood is thickened, and circulates unequally in different parts 
of the body; the glands become swollen, and the Avails of the 
air-passages and ducts are enlarged and sore. Now comes 
on a struggle with the powers of Nature, to see in which part 
this fiery ordeal of heat and inflammation shall reach its 
greatest height. Some weaker organ is the one that first 
succumbs. Here the fever rises higher and higher, and the 



DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 2S1 

inflammation increases. The empoisoned virus of the l)lood 
rushes to this more-heated part as surely (and on somewhat 
the same principle, too) as the oil flows through the wick to 
the flame of the burning lamp. 

We have pursued tliis subject at some length, because 
right here is the ground-work of the difficulty. Here are 
the fountains of disease, whose streams so often ruin the 
horse. In seven cases out of ten, disease is generated by 
mismanagement, bad treatment, and exposure, and thou- 
sands of the best horses in the United States die annually 
from these causes. 

This great aggregate of unnecessary suftering, and these 
vast sacrifices of pecuniary interest consequent upon it, 
might be saved by better practices on the part of the 
farmer and horseman. When a system of humane and ju- 
dicious treatment has been universally adopted in respect 
to the horse, the pristine vigor of his race will perhaps be 
nearly attained, even in circumstances of servitude to man ; 
and, at any rate, the field of labor of the veterinary surgeon 
will be not a little circumscribed, and his practice greatly 
simplified. 

In the moral universe, no relation can exist wnthout some 
corresponding obligation. Man's relation to the brute cre- 
ation is that of lord, of master, and by that he is obligated 
to become, at the same time, a protector and provider. As 
a moral duty, the prevention of suflering is made binding 
upon him by the law of the Creator, of whose ordaining it 
is that the brutes have been made subject to his dominion, 
or even capable of subserving his purposes. An act of cru- 
elty, whether w^e commit it ourselves, or simply permit it 
to be done, is a grievous wrong, and it is a sin against Glod. 

The w^eather being unfavorable, if the horse is much 
heated from his daily labors, by all means give him a good, 
warm, dry stable, with a clean bed of straw, and have mat- 
ters so arranged that he can lie down and rest during the 
night. If very cold, cover his body with a warm blanket. 
It would be no more than you should be prompted to do, 



282 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

by considerations of decency and gratitude, to take a blanket 
from yonr own bed, if need be, in order to furnisb your faith- 
ful servant a proper protection after bringing you through 
the pitiless storm, over many a v\'eary mile, safely to your 
own home, even should you then have to sit up half the 
night to keep up the fire in your own room, that you might 
not sutier from cold. 

Great care should be regularly exercised in regard to food. 
Under no circumstances should the heated horse be given 
corn. If, unfortunately, nothing else is at hand, better let 
him stand for an hour and a half, until the heat subsides, 
his blood cools, and his stomach is in proper condition to 
receive such stimulating food; and, meantime, give him a 
little water, and some salt in his trough to lick. If hay or 
any soft feed is at hand, give him this first. A bran-mash, 
some rheal, or some cut feed, will be the best. We say again 
that a horse which has performed severe labor during the 
day, and at night goes to the stable hot and tired, should 
never have any corn until morning, if any other food can 
possibly be procured. 

ENLARGED GLANDS. 

One of the forms of disease specially treated of in this 
chapter, is. what may be classed under the general head of 
enlarged glands. It embraces those swellings of the glands 
of the mouth and throat that are unaccompanied by any 
severer malady, such as they are so often the mere symp- 
toms of. While this condition may !]ot be a specific or per- 
manent disorder, but simply the temporary eftects of cold 
and exposure, its tendency is toward that termination. It 
'should, therefore, be watched carefully, and, if it lingers 
about at all, it should be treated much in the same way as 
will be directed in the next section for 

SWELLED THROAT. 

This general term, we are persuaded, will better suit the 
farmer's uses than more minute divisions of highly-educated 



DISEASES OF THE THKOAT. 283 

and scientific practitioners, some of whom have a specific 
name for the disease of every little organ in the throat. As 
onr work is designed for the farmer, we prefer to adopt this 
name instead of the others. This whole class of diseases, in 
the canses, development, and treatment of each, are so mnch 
alike amid all their slight diversities of location, that this can 
be done without any serious confusion or lack of precision. 

While engaged in the preparation of the pages for one of 
the preceding chapters, we saw a case of this kind on Wal- 
nut Hills, near Cincinnati. It was swelled throat from the 
effects of cold and inflammation of the glands. 

These inflammations often become chronic, and not a few 
of the obstinate coughs that so much trouble both the horse 
and his owner have their origin right here. 

Lar^aigitis, or inflammation of the larynx, is the most 
common disease, which we rany consider under the general 
name at the head of this section. Mr. Youatt gives this de- 
scription of it : 

"Its approach is often insidious, scarceh^ to be distin- 
guished from catarrh, except by being attended with more 
soreness of throat, and less enlargement of the parotid 
glands. There are, also, more decided and violent parox- 
ysms of coughing than in common catarrh, attended by a 
gurgling noise, which may be heard at a little distance from 
the horse, and which, by auscultation, is decidedly referable 
to the larynx. The breathing is shorter and quicker, and 
evidently more painful than catarrh ; the membrane of the 
nose is redder ; it is of a deep modena color ; and the horse 
shrinks and exhibits great pain when the larynx is pressed 
upon. The paroxysms of coughing become more frequent and 
violent, and the animal appears, at times, almost suffocated. 

"As the soreness of the throat proceeds, the head of the 
animal is projected, and the neck has a peculiar stiffness. 
There is, also, much difficult}' of swallowing. Considerable 
swelling of the larynx and the pharynx ensue, and also of 
the parotid, sublingual, and submaxillary glands. As the in- 
flammation increases, the cough becomes hoarse and feeble, 



284 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

und, m some cases, altogether suspended. At the commence 
meut, there is usually little or no nasal defluxion, but the se- 
cretion soon appears, either pure or mixed with an unusual 
quantity of saliva. 

"He who is desirous of ascertaining whether there is any 
disease in the larynx of a horse should apply his ear to the 
lower part of the windpipe. If he finds that the air passes 
in and out without interruption, there is no disease of any. 
consequence either in the windpipe or the chest, for it would 
immediately be detected by the loudness or the interruption 
of the murmur. Then let him gradually proceed up the neck, 
with his ear still upon the windpipe. Perhaps he soon begins 
to recognize a little gurgling, grating sound. As he continues 
to ascend, that sound is more decisive, mingled with an occa- 
sional wheezing, whistling noise. He can have no surer proof 
that here is the impediment to the passage of the air, pro-- 
ceeding from the thickening of the membrane and diminution 
of the passage, or increased secretion of mucus, which bub- 
bles and rattles as the breath passes. By the degree of the 
rattling or whistling, the owner will judge which cause of 
obstruction preponderates — in fact, he will have discovered 
the seat and the state of the disease, and the sooner he has 
recourse to professional advice the better." 

These inflammations of the throat are generally accom- 
panied by cold or coughs, and occasional!}^ by bronchitis. 
Particular glands are frequently congested, and become choked 
up, their secretions becoming thickened, so that they do not 
flow readily, or perhaps not at all. Soreness and inflamma- 
tion arise ; the glands swell and puflT out on the under side 
of the throat, and, if this condition is not bettered soon, an 
abscess will form, which may perhaps go on until it requires 
opening with the lancet. 

TREATMENT. 

"Whatever is done ought to be done quickly, for some- 
times these throat diseases are very rapid in their action. 



DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 285 

The first resort will be bleedmg, as usually the attack is not 
detected until it has progressed so far that blood-letting is 
absolutely necessary. By opening the neck vein, much 
blood is abstracted from the very seat of the disease, and 
the fevor will be considerably lessened in this entire region. 
Let the blood run until the pulse falters. You are attack- 
ing the inflammation, not the horse, and there need be no 
fears about his bleeding to death. 

After this, prepare the following remedy, to be used as a 
wash : One ounce of chlorate of potash, two ounces of golden 
seal, and forty grains of tartar emetic. Mix these in one 
;pint of water, and, dividing into nine doses, give three of 
them daily, each morning, noon, and night. 

Apply the corrosive liniment to the outside of the throat 
for two mornings, and, if the throat is swelling much, it will 
abate the symptoms readily. If an abscess is forming, sub- 
stitute the May-apple liniment. 

In a mild case of sore throat, the bleeding may be omitted, 
and, also, the corrosive liniment. But use the throat-wash, 
as directed; and, for three mornings, bathe the under side of 
the throat and between the jaw bones with a hot decoction 
of tobacco. 

COUGH. 

ITearly every disease of the respiratory organs is accom- 
panied by a cough more or less severe. An extreme irrita- 
bility of the throat, the windpipe, and the lungs, from the 
effects of disease and the influence of the air upon the sore 
and inflamed parts, is very commonly a feature of all disor- 
ders of this class. A cold atmosphere is exceedingly annoy- 
ing to a sore throat, and, if drawn suddenly into the lungs, is 
pretty sure to excite a coughing spell. 

In human pathology, one of the most frequent causes of 
coughing is the enlargement and soreness of the tonsils. 
These organs are situated on each side of the palate, and pro- 
ject outwardly and over the glottis (the upper part of the 
trachea), in the shape of an almond. Located in the tonsils 
are the small openings of a number of cells, or cavities, from 



286 AMERICAX FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

which flows a transparent mucus, which is pressed out in thd 
act of swallowing, and is designed to lubricate the throat, so 
that the food may pass without friction through the pharynx 
into the oesophagus, on its way to the stomach. The tonsils 
are often sore and swollen ; the little openings close, so that 
no mucus flows from them ; the mouth and throat become 
dry and irritable, and then there is coughing. This act is 
simply an effort, often involuntary, to obtain relief from the 
dry, itchy, and irritable feeling in the throat, and to force the 
tonsils to disgorge the mucus from its cells; and when a suf- 
ficient quantity has been forced out by the pressure of the 
muscles, in coughing, to once more lubricate the throat, the 
unpleasant sensations subside, there is a temporary respite, 
and the cough ceases for awhile. 

The horse, however, has no tonsils such as the human 
species is furnished with, and hence his cough can. not pro- 
ceed from exactly the same cause as that here mentioned ; 
yet the same effect is produced in his case by dryness of the 
lining membrane of the trachea and air-passages of the lungs. 
The secretions of the parotid and other glands furnish a vapor 
to the warm air, as it is inhaled in the act of respiration, and 
this vapor is deposited on the smooth, delicate mucous mem- 
brane which lines the nasal cavities, the mouth, the throat, 
and air-passages, and serves to keep it moist. Inflammation 
and fever tend to evaporate this moisture much faster than 
it is supplied, and the membrane is left dry. Coughing is 
the method by which ISTature seeks to force an increased sup- 
ply of moisture from the glands, in order that the membrane 
may receive the vapory deposits necessary to its comfort. 

One very important object obtained by the act of coughing 
is the disgorgement of the morbid secretions, which are 
thrown out by the glands of the mouth and throat, and some- 
times by the lungs. Instead of being a thin, transparent 
fluid, these are changed into a thick, coagulated mucus, 
sometimes even tough and stringy in character. Of this 
large quantities are removed in the acts of coughing and ex- 
pectoration, and the relief thus obtained is very great. Much 



DISEASES OF TJIE THROAT. 287 

of tlie labor of clji-onic cough coiis'iHts iu tlie disgorging and 
tlirowing out tlilri irritating and troublesome matter from the 
lungH and air-paoKages. 

Another slight beneiit arising from coughing, yet only very 
temporary at best, is effected by the rapidity with which the 
air rusnes over the dry and irritated surface, for the moment 
cooling its fever and allaying the burning heat. A slight 
friction of the parts is also produced, which serves very 
much the same ends as a gentle scratching, where it itches 
and burns. 

The sound of coughing is occasioned by the violent con- 
cussion of the air, as it is forced from the lungs through the 
glottis into the larynx, in whicli are formed the vocal into- 
nations of man and all the higher types of animals. 

Any disease that aifects the respiratory organs and pas- 
sages, whether the various parts of the throat, or the trachea, 
the bronchi,*the lungs, or the pleura, to such an extent that 
fever and inflammation are caused, will give rise to a cough. 
If the disease becomes chronic, so will the cough. The latter 
will share the fate of the other in that case ; yet cough some- 
times remains after an acute attack of disease has been pretty 
thorouglily subdued. Among the various ailments iu which 
coughs originate, we may name the following: Soreness and 
inflammation, of whatever sort, of the throat and its pas- 
sages, and of the trachea and lungs; bronchitis, pneumonia, 
consumption, and pleurisy. 

There are other diseases that at times sympathetically af- 
fect the lungs ajid throat, and are apt to be marked by more 
or less of coughing, though this will pass away when the 
more severe symptoms of the disorder disappear. Such are 
indigestion, worms, derangement of the liver, and distemper. 

TREATMENT. 

This may prove somewhat cliflS.cult, as coughs are often 
obstinate and unyielding. Usually the cough may be abated 
in a short time, and perhaps to a very great extent; but a 
cough stopped is, by no means, one cured. It clings in- 



288 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

separably to the disease wliicli produced it, and occasionally 
even remains after that disease has been utterly routed. 
Only those cases which are lingering or chronic will require 
special directions for treatment, as all others will yield to the 
remedies that cure the diseases in which they originated. 

The proper time to begin the treatment of a cough which 
makes its appearance as one of the fruits of exposure and 
colds, is at its earliest development. The first time the horse 
is heard to cough, notice should be taken of the fact, and its 
cause be investigated at once and diligently. If it proves to 
be occasioned simply by dust or chaff, nothing will be re- 
quired but to give the animal a drink of water. On the other 
hand, should it be from a cold or sore throat, active treatment 
should be begun forthwith. Put the ear to the throat, near the 
jaw-bone, to ascertain whether any rattling of the larynx or 
the glottis can be detected ; and note carefully whether the 
horse, in drinking, gulps his water and straightens his neck 
after swallowing, as though it hurt him. Such symptoms as 
either of these indications constitute must not be neglected. 

Extract from the jugular or neck vein three quarts of 
blood. Then prepare as follows : One table-spoonful of gun- 
powder, one of soft soap, two of lard, one of tar, and one of 
gum myrrh, finely pulverized. Mix this well, and divide into 
six doses. Each morning put one of them down the horse's 
throat with a paddle or spoon, and at night drench him with 
half a gill of the solution of chlorate of potash — one ounce 
of the chlorate of potash to a pint of water. 

After this, if he stands in the stable, give as much sulphur 
and resin as he can be induced to eat ; but if in time of 
pasture, green grass will be the best thing in the world for 
him. 

In the spring of the year, bleeding may not be necessary, 
unless the horse's condition is very bad. In a mild case, the 
faithful use of the throat medicine, with a careful bathing 
of the throat, for two or three successive mornings, with the 
hot decoction of tobacco, will nearly always remove the 
cough. But in the winter, the case will be pretty sure to be 



DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 289 

obstinate, sufficiently so to necessitate active and energetic 
employment of the whole treatment. 

MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC* 

"In 1714, a malignant epidemic was imported from the 
Continent, and, in the course of a few months, destroyed 
70,000 horses and cattle. It continued to visit other coun- 
tries, with but short intervals, for lifty years afterward. Out 
of evil, however, came good. The continental agriculturists 
were alarmed by the destruction of their property. The 
different governments participated in the terror, and veter- 
inary' schools were established, in which the anatomy and 
diseases of these animals might be studied, and the cause 
and treatment of these periodical pests discovered. From 
the time that this branch of medical science began to receive 
the attention it deserved, these epidemics, if they have not 
quite ceased, have changed their character, and have become 
comparatively mild and manageable. As, however, they yet 
occur, and far too fatal, we must endeavor to collect the 
symptoms, and point out the treatment of them. 

"The malignant epidemic was almost uniformly ushered 
in by inflammation of the mucous membrane of the respira- 
tory passages, but soon involving other poi-tions, and then 
ensued a diarrhea, which no art could arrest. The fever, 
acute at first, rapidly passed over, and was succeeded by great 
prostration of strength. The iiiflanmiation then spread to 
the cellular texture, and there was a peculiar disposition to 
the formation of phlegmonous tumors; sometimes there were 
pustular eruptions, but oftener deep-seated tumors rapidly 
proceeding to suppuration. Connected with this was a strong 
tendency to decomposition, and, unless the animal was re- 
lieved by some critical flux or evacuation, malignant typhus 
was established, and the horse speedily sunk. 

" The most satisfactory account of one of these epidemics is 

*The ravages of thia epidemic lorm a highly interesting, though startling, 
page in the history of veterinary science. The epitome embodied in thia sec- 
tion is from Youatt. 

19 



290 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

giveu us by Professor Brugnone, of Turin. It commenced 
with loss of appetite, staring coat, a wild and wandering 
look, and a staggering from the very commencement. The 
horse would continually lie down and get up again, as if tor- 
mented by colic; and he gazed alternately at both flanks. 
In moments of comparative ease, there were universal twitch- 
ings of the skin and spasms of the limbs. The temperature 
of the ears and feet was variable. If there happened to be 
about the animal any old wound or scar from setoniug or 
tiring, it opened afresh and discharged a quantity of thick 
and black blood. Ver}^ shortly afterward the flanks, which 
were quiet before, began to heave, the nostrils were dilated, 
the head extended for breath. The horse had, by this time, 
become so weak that, if he lay or fell down, he could rise no 
more ; or if he was up, he would stand trembling, stagger- 
ing, and threatening to fall every moment. The mouth was 
dry, the tongue white, and the breath fetid ; a discharge of 
yellow or bloody fetid matter proceeded from the nose, and 
fetid blood from the anus. The duration of the disease did 
not usually exceed twelve or twenty-four hours; or, if the 
animal lingered on, swellings of the head and throat, and 
sheath and scrotum, followed, and he died exhausted or in 
convulsions. 

" Black spots of extravasation were found in the cellular 
membrane, in the tissue of all the membranes, and on the 
stomach. The mesenteric and lymphatic glands were en- 
gorged, black, and gangrenous. The membrane of the nose 
and pharynx was highly injected, the lungs were filled with 
black and frothy blood, or with black and livid spots. The 
brain and its meninges were unaltered." 

DIFFICULTY OF BREATHING. 

Many horses give evidence of considerable difficulty in 
breathing, and to such an extent, in many cases, that the an- 
imal is incapacitated for any thing but the slowest kind of 
work. Such a condition may result from a partial change 
in the organization of the substance of the lungs, or from 



DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 291 

some obstruction of the air-passages. This affection of the 
horse is variously designated, according to its different mani- 
festations. In England, the sound produced is what decides 
the name, and hence veterinarians and horsemen in that coun- 
try speak of roarers, whistlers, wheezers, pipers, etc. There 
are,also, the terms "thick wind" and "broken wind," both of 
which are very appropriate, and, to a certain extent, are in 
use in this country as well as in Great Britain. Difficulty 
of breathing, in the Southern States, is known as " bellows," 
and in the Northern States as " heaves." These terms relate 
to precisely the same affection — broken wind — and are de- 
rived from the rapid and labored motion of the animal's 
flanks in respiration. 

Perhaps it would serve every purpose to include all these 
distinctive names under one comprehensive term, such as 
that at the head of this section ; but, as the farmer will 
probably recognize what they stand for more readily under 
the customary titles, we will treat separately broken wind, 
thick wind, and roaring. The former two are most com- 
monly the permanent effects left in the wake of those two 
dreadful diseases bronchitis and pneumonia, or inflammation 
of the lungs. 

BROKEN WIND, BELLOWS, AND HEAVES. 

The lungs act on the principle of a pair of bellows, worked 
by the power of the respiratory muscles. If they are im- 
paired, and portions of them closed up, it will require a more 
labored effort of the muscles to keep them blowing. As ex- 
ercise increases, the blowing increases also, in both volume 
and rapidity, and greater exertion is required, of course, to 
blow the bellows fast than slow. The action of the lungs is 
thus much quickened, the breathing is short, and the sides 
puff" in and out like a pair of bellows indeed. Hence the 
name by which this affection goes in Dixie, while the syno- 
nym " heaves," employed in Yankee-land, originates in the 
same peculiarity. 

In broken wind, the air is drawn into the lungs — or in- 



292 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

spired, as the technical word is — somewhat more quickly and 
laboriously than in health ; but, when it is forced out in ex- 
piration, a singular and characteristic phenomenon appears. 
This is a peculiar and forcible double action, the ordinary 
expiration being succeeded by another, evidently a labored 
one. The cause of this is a change in the structure of part 
of the lungs, in which the walls between some of the air- 
cells are broken down, so that the usual action of the respir- 
atory muscles is not sufficiently powerful to expel all the air. 
Such a condition is called emphyseina. In the second expira- 
tion, all the muscles of the chest are called into play. 

Says " Stonehenge : " " The pressure of unchanged air is a 
constant source of irritation to the lungs, and, although suf- 
ficient may be expired easily enough to carry on their func- 
tions while the body is at rest, yet, instinctively, there is a 
desire to get rid of the surplus, and hence the two acts of 
respiration. Immediately after this second act the muscles 
relax, and the flank falls in, and this it is which catches the 
eye in so remarkable a manner. On examination after death, 
the lungs are found to remain enlarged, and do not collaj)se, 
as in the healthy condition. They are distended with air ; 
and this is especially the case when the emphysema is of the 
kind called interlobular, in which the air has escaped into 
the cellular membrane. In the most common kind, however, 
the cells are broken down, several being united together, 
while the enlargement pressing upon the tube which has 
opened into them diminishes its capacity and prevents the 
ready escape of air." 

TREATMENT. 

A cure of broken wind is impossible, since the trouble 
originates in an organic injury. The ruptured walls of the 
pulmonary tissue can never be built up again by the skill or 
medication of man. But the disease may be greatly palliated 
by proper attention to feeding, and regular and judicious ex- 
ercise. The horse should not be watered for at least an hour 
before going to work, nor be put at severe labor while the 



DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 293 

stomacli is distended with food, for the lungs ought to have 
the freest and fullest play possible. Oats will be an excellent 
article of diet. In England, carrots are considered of great 
benefit in this and similar diseases of the respiratory organs. 

THICK WIND, WHEEZING, ETC. 

Thick wind is the general name applied to the defective 
respiration of the horse when there is no clearly-defined 
unnatural noise, and there are no signs of the condition 
known as emphysema, described in the last section. It is 
characterized by a short, quick, and labored breathing, as 
well of inspiration as of expiration. Sometimes the bron- 
chial tubes are the seat of the trouble, from their diameter 
becoming lessened by a thickening of the mucous membrane 
with which they are lined ; but, usually, it follows pneumonia, 
and is caused by the hepatization of a portion of the lungs — 
that is, some of the air-cells are closed up or obliterated, so 
that only a part of the lungs is available for the purposes of 
respiration. This part has extra labor thrown upon it, of 
course; and the breathing is necessarily quicker, in order 
that the blood, which it was intended should be acted upon 
by the air in every portion of the lungs, may not suffer, now 
that only a part of their air-surfaces can be used. 

This trouble often precedes "broken wind;" but, while 
that disorder is the effect of particular affections of the lungs, 
nearly all of them are attended or followed by thick wind, 
or wheezing. Unlike broken wind, the latter often passes 
away with the disease that produced it. 

TREATMENT. 

This will be of the same character as that prescribed in the 
last section for broken wind, and can not be expected to do 
more than simply mitigate the symptoms. 

ROARING. 

This is the name given in England to a disease exceedingly 
rare in this country, although some parts of Europe contain 



294 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

a great many roarers. From the accounts of British veter 
inarians we cull the following statements concerning it : It 
is produced by obstruction in some part of the respiratory 
canal, oftenest in the larynx, and next to that in the trachea. 
Sometimes these obstructions are originall}' caused by bands 
of coagulated lymph in the trachea, or elsewhere. Chronic 
cough occasionally terminates in roaring. The majority of 
roarers are draught horses, and horses of quick draught. 

Facts are said to establish the hereditary predisposition to 
this affection beyond a doubt. " Major Wilson, of Didliug- 
ton, England," had a valuable stable horse ; but he was a 
roarer, and so were many of his colts. On the other hand, 
"Eclipse" and "Taurus," two celebrated racers of England, 
were roarers, but none of their colts were. 

This is a rather strange concatenation of assertions and 
contradictions to be derived from the same sources ; and thus 
we leave the subject and the roarers of Euiiland. 



DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 



295 



CHAPTER XII. 

DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 
d 




a The first rib. 

b The cartilages of the eleven hindermost, or false ribs, connected together, 
and uniting with that of the seventh or last true rib. 

c The breast-bone, or sternum. 

d The top, or point, of the withers, which are formed by the lengthened 
spinous, or upright, processes of the first ten or eleven bones of 
the back. The bones of the back [dorsal vertebrae) are eighteen in 
number. 

e The ribs, usually eighteen on each side ; the first seven united to the breast- 
bone by cartilage ; the cartilages of the remaining eleven united to 
each other, as at b. 

f That portion of the spine where the loins commence, and composed of six 
bones (the lumbar vertebrce). 

g The bones forming the hip, or haunch, and into the hole at the bottom of 
which the head of the thigh-bone is received. 

A The portion of the spine (the sacrum) belonging to the haunch, and consist- 
ing of five pieces. 

t The bones of the tail, usually seventeen in number. 



CHEST FOUNDER. 



The muscles of the horse's breast are sometimes the seat 
of a peculiar soreness and swelling never satisfactorily ac- 
counted for, and not known to be connected with any other 



296 AMERICAN FAEMER'S UOESE BOOK. 

disease. Probably this condition is the result of cold settled 
in these muscles from some cause ; or, it may be, from some 
strain or lesion of them, or of their connection with the ten- 
dons. Some have supposed it to be a form of rheumatism. 
The affection was formerly called chest founder, and by that 
name is still best known to most American farmers. 

Whatever the real causes of the attack, its symptoms are 
obvious enough. The horse manifests pain when he is 
touched ; there is evident stiffness of the shoulders and legs 
during motion, and, at times, there is considerable fever. 

TREATMENT. 

"Wash the breast in some warm salt and water in the morn- 
ing, and again at night ; and on the second day apply the cor- 
rosive liniment to the chest. Give as a drench, as hot as the 
animal can bear it, a pint of salt and water, in which has been 
stirred half an ounce of ground ginger and one dram of 
tartar emetic. Six days will usually be long enough for this 
to do its work; but, if necessary, its use may be continued 
longer, until a decided improvement is perceptible. 

In a bad case, bleed moderately. 

BRONCHITIS. 

Bronchitis is but one of the legitimate fruits of exposure, 
such, for instance, as that depicted at the opening of the 
last chapter, where we saw the heated and steaming horse 
turned out into the cold and biting storm, there to stand 
shivering and freezing in the mud, through a long winter 
night. As a consequence of that treatment, there was first 
a cold, next enlarged glands, and then swelled throat. Happy 
that horse and owner if the difficulty goes no further than 
this. Sometimes it will not; but often the inflammation 
creeps downward from the larynx through the trachea into 
the bronchi and air-passages of the lungs. 

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane 
lining the bronchial tubes, which membrane, becoming filled 
with blood, the diameter of the tube is sensibly diminished, 



DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 297 

BO that some difficulty and an increased rapidity of breathing 
is the consequence. "After a time, a frothy mucus is 
poured from the membrane, and this still further interferes 
with respiration, and necessitates a constant cough to get rid 
of it. These symptoms are always present; but they will 
vary greatly in intensity, and in the rapidity with which they 
progress, from which circumstances bronchitis is usually said 
to be acute or chronic, as the case may be." 

The discharge in bronchitis is mainly of a purulent, mu- 
cous character, with clots of blood and plugs of matter from 
the nose. The disease gradually steals its way along the line 
of the trachea to the air-tubes, and even the substance of the 
lungs, and the inexperienced will have some difficulty in 
distinguishing it from pneumonia, which is its very frequent 
termination. The horse is very sensitive to pain, and his 
nerves are all alive to excitement. That he feels the full 
force of his suffi^ring is manifest by his haggard look, and 
also by his evident dread of suffiication, which causes him to 
remain standing and motionless. There is a hard, dry cough; 
the breathing is hot, and noticeably quickened; the pulse is 
full and rapid, beating sixty or seventy times per minute, 
and the membrane of the nose is of a deep florid red. 

When the ear is placed to the throat and chest, (which is 
that most useful means of forming a true diagnosis of all 
pulmonary diseases, which the books describe under the namo 
of auscultation,) there is heard a dry, rattling sound, diliering 
materially from the crepitation — the murmurous, crackling 
sound — of pneumonia. Upon the formation of mucus, this 
is succeeded by gurgling, and what have been called "soap- 
bubble sounds," forming a distinctive feature of bronchitis 
that is easily recognized. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment of this disease is so nearly identical with 
that to be prescribed for pneumonia, in the next section, that 
it will be sufficient to refer the reader forward to that con- 
nection. 



298 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

PNEUMONIA, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 

This follows hard after bronchitis, in most instances where 
it occurs, and the horse generally dies. In only a small pro- 
portion of cases is it possible to effect a cure. Where the 
horse has a strong constitution, and his vital forces are all in 
energetic play, if the disease be attacked in season, there will 
be some chance of overcoming and removing it. The pro- 
cess of treatment, however, will prove long and arduous. 

Primary or pure pneumonia, as it is called, is undoubtedly 
found to exist, at times, without attendant bronchitis ; but it 
is equally certain that the two diseases are intimately con- 
nected, in the great majority of cases. Perhaps pure pneu- 
monia is oftener accompanied, or rather preceded, by bron- 
chial irritation than is now generally supposed; but this 
symptom being so involved in the severer ones which follow 
after with great rapidity, it is apt to be. overlooked. When 
the progress of the disease is slow, however, the bronchial 
s^'mptoms are seen clearly as a separate link in the chain. 

Pneumonia is commonly ushered in with a chill, the horse 
shivering all over. Presently this passes off, and is succeeded 
by an unnatural degree of warmth. Before long another 
chill comes on, more severe than the former, and lasting 
somewhat longer. Thus there may be three or four recur- 
rences of these chills before any other conspicuous symptoms 
are manifested. The extremities are deathly cold from the 
very outset. On putting the hand to the legs or the ears this 
will be noticed in an instant. As the symptoms progress, the 
breathing becomes hurried and distressed, averaging about 
one inspiration each second ; the pulse, though oppressed, is 
quick, running up to sixty-five or seventy per minute; the 
mouth and breath are very hot; there is a short and evidently 
painful cough ; the fore-feet are wide apart, from the animal's 
instinctive effort to dilate the chest as much as possible ; and 
the sound heard in auscultation is a peculiar crisp crackling, 
which some have likened to the crackling of a dried bladder. 
This sound is caused by the infiltration of blood into the air- 



DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 299 

cells. The lungs are in a state of fearful congestion, and it 
often happens that simple congestion, such as may be caused 
by violent over-exertion at any time, brings on an attack of 
pneumonia. 

"The unfavorable symptoms," says Youatt, "are, increased 
coldness of the ears and feet, if that be possible; partial 
sweats ; grinding of the teeth ; evident weakness; staggering, 
the animal not lying down. The pulse becomes quicker, and 
weak and fluttering ; the membrane of the nose paler, but of 
a dirty hue, the animal growing stupid, comatose. At length 
he falls, but he gets up immediately. For awhile he is up 
and down almost every minute, until he is no longer able to 
rise; he struggles severely; he piteously groans; the pulse 
becomes more rapid, fainter, and he dies of suflbcation. The 
disease sometimes runs its course with strange rapidity. A 
horse has been destroyed by pure pneumonia in twelve hours. 
The vessels ramifying over the cells have yielded to the fear- 
ful impulse of the blood, and the lungs have presented one 
mass of congestion. 

"The favorable symptoms are, the return of a little warmth 
to the extremites, the circulation beginning again to assume 
its natural character; and, next to this, the lying down quietly 
and without uneasiness, showing us that he is beginning to 
do without the auxiliary muscles. These are good symptoms, 
and they will rarely deceive. 

" Congestion is a frequent termination of pneumonia. ITot 
only are the vessels gorged — the congestion which accom- 
panies common inflammation — but their parietes are neces- 
sarily so thin, in order that the change in the blood may 
take place, although they are interposed, that they are easily 
ruptured, and the cells are tilled with blood. This eftused 
blood soon coagulates, and the lung, when cut into, presents 
a black, softened, pulpy kind of appearance, termed, by the 
farrier and the groom, rottenness, and being supposed by them 
to indicate an old disease. It proves only the violence of 
the disease, the rupture of many a vessel surcharged with 
blood ; and it also proves that the disease is of recent date ; 



300 AMEKICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

for, in no great length of time, the serous portion of the blood 
becomes absorbed, the more solid one becomes organized, the 
cells are obliterated, and the lung is hepatized, or bears con- 
siderable resemblance to liver." 

TREATMENT. 

As already stated, the treatment for pneumonia and bron- 
chitis is essentially the same. The first thing to be done is 
to bleed, taking three pints of blood from the neck vein. 
Next, wash the entire neck and chest with a weak decoction 
of tobacco, as hot as it can be safel}^ applied, and as soon as 
this is dry, bathe the chest with the corrosive liniment. 

A hot drench — as hot as it can be made without scalding — 
is the next step in the treatment. This is to consist of two 
ounces of Epsom salts in a pint of salt and water. Follow 
this with a preparation of gentian and ginger. Take one 
ounce of each and boil them in one quart of water, until 
their strength is out, or until there is only a pint of water 
left. Divide this into four doses, of which give the horse one 
in the morning and another at night. These doses may be 
kept up as long as the symptoms warrant their use. 

A clyster of warm soap-suds will be of benefit, to follow 
the first drench. As only a light discharge from the bowels 
is to be sought, the use of strong purgatives must be avoided 
with the utmost care. They will be very likely to induce 
inflammation of the bowels, in the present condition of the 
patient, and only tend to hasten a fatal termination. 

No symptom of pneumonia is more characteristic than cold 
extremities, sometimes even icy cold; nor is there any so 
easily recognized. It will greatly improve the condition of 
the feet and limbs to bathe them with strong salt and water, 
as hot as the horse can bear it, and then to rub them well 
with a coarse cloth or brush. 

The food must be very light. Green feed will be best, but 
if this can not be procured, bran-mashes, a little meal, or 
some chopped feed will do very well instead. Until there is 
a marked improvement in his condition, the horse will not 



DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 301 

attempt to eat any thing ; nor is it at all desirable, even if it 
were not useless, to coax him to do so. 

"When the patient is so much better that he can be turned 
out, give him the run of a good pasture, if possible; or, if 
too feeble for this, keep him warm in the stable, until he 
gains strength. In any case, great care must be taken to 
prevent a relapse. The condition of the lungs will hardly be 
that of sound health for a long time afterward, even if the 
animal can be carried through without becoming broken- 
winded. Not unfrequently an attack of pneumonia seems to 
permanently enfeeble the constitution and shorten life. After 
a good interval of rest, (seldom less than two months, when 
the attack has been an acute one), the horse may be put to 
light work, which may be gradually increased in severity, as 
he is found capable of it. 

CONSUMPTION. 

Consumption in the horse is oftener than otherwise the 
successor of pneumonia. It is generally but the finishing 
stroke, the final winding up of the long train of evils follow- 
ing exposure and neglect. Those were the cause; this is the 
result. Inflammation in the lungs has produced rupture of 
the air-cells, and the mucus and blood has mingled together 
in lumps or knots, and, under the influence of the prevailing 
local fever, these masses have become coagulated and consti- 
tute what are called tubercles. These are of a pale yellow 
color, varying greatly in size, and still more in number, the 
latter being dependent upon the number of the air-cells de- 
stroyed by the inflammation. If pneumonia leaves behind 
it but a few of these tubercles, and not much irritation re- 
mains in the lungs, they may pass to a state of induration — 
that is, hardness and dryness — without occasioning any harm. 
But in these bodies there is always a strong predisposition to 
growth, and the formation of tubercular matter, a kind of 
yellowish white pus, of a creamy appearance, and coagulable 
by the action of heat, acids, and alcohol. 

Tubercles are frequently found in the lungs, and some-- 



302 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

times exist there for a long time, without seriously injuring 
the horse. But we have many doubts whether they can long 
remain there without some growth, some increase in size, 
though it be very slowly. Almost any irritating cause may 
occasion their enlargement. Exposure, colds, extra labor, 
derangement of the stomach and bowels, a general feverish 
condition of the system, and certain specific diseases, may 
send such unhealthy influences to the lungs through the blood 
as to excite tubercular growth and the formation of matter. 
The healthy parts of the lung are involved by degrees, and 
gradually destroyed ; and now consumption has fairly entered 
on its fell career. The yellow, almost purulent, mucus raised 
from the lungs is the pus of the tubercles, which has burst 
through their cells into the air-passages of the lungs, when 
it is expectorated by the human patient, and in the horse es- 
capes through the nostrils. 

The reader must bear in mind, that in the foregoing de- 
scription, the tubercles have been supposed to originate in 
the diseased condition of the lungs consequent upon pneu- 
monia, bronchitis, or pleurisy; but this does not imply 
that consumption invariably follows those disorders, or even 
that their tubercular formations necessarily produce it. Nor 
do we wish to be understood to say that tubercles may not 
exist in the lungs of the horse quite independent of them, 
and indeed of all other afiections. We are satisfied that they 
may so exist, and that consumption may establish itself in the 
lungs as a primary disease. Perhaps the latent virus of 
scrofula is the not uncommon, though seldom suspected, in- 
strumentality which develops consumption in many of these 
cases. 

The symptoms of consumption do not vary much from 
those of inflammation of the lungs, except in intensity. 
There is a much slower but still more morbid action going 
on in the lungs ; the pulse is feeble ; the nose, ears, legs, and 
even the skin, constantly feel not only chilly, but of a clammy, 
death-like coldness ; the membrane of the nose is of a pale 
aud ashy color ; the breath is hot and very oflensive ; there is 



DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 303 

a very severe and painful cough, and the nose is continually 
discharging a purulent matter, often mixed with blood. 

Consumption kills more horses than is generally supposed. 
It is apt to be mistaken for some other disease, in many 
cases, and is even less understood by the mass of horse own- 
ers than its kindred diseases, pneumonia and bronchitis. 
All of these sometimes run their course so rapidly that irre- 
parable mischief is done before the keeper awakens to a 
realization of the true condition of the suffering animal. 

TREATMENT. 

The hope of a cure in a case of genuine consumption is 
slight indeed; and it will not do for the practitioner to 
effect improvement simply, although that may be very great. 
Not only must life be prolonged, but the patient must be 
made sound and well, and capable of full service, or nothing 
is accomplished; and the skill and judgment of the veter- 
inarian is gauged, not by the measure of success that attends 
his treatment, but by its perfect success. The human patient 
willingly submits to medical treatment for months, or even 
years, and is happy if life is merely preserved and made tol- 
erably comfortable, so that he can get about a little. To secure 
this, he regards scarcely any sacrifice as too great. In respect 
to the horse, however, this amounts to nothing ; yet seldom, 
exceedingly seldom, can any thing more be done for him if 
pulmonary consumption is fairly established. He may be 
patched up a little, so as to regain sufficient strength for 
some quite light service, but a sound, strong horse he never 
will be again. In nine cases out of ten, it will be worth 
twice the after value of the horse to "cure" him, as many 
would use the term. 

Mercy can be the only inducement to undertake any treat- 
ment after the disease has passed its earlier stages. Much 
suffering may be alleviated, and this might well be a suffi- 
cient motive for adopting that course. But the pecuniary view 
is that which would control the action of the great majority 
of our farmers, and, perhaps, necessarily so in many caseS; 



304 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

A radical cure is an impossibility, except in the first stages 
of the malady; but the symptoms of that period seldom 
receive any attention, and thus the golden opportunity is 
forever lost. When the tubercles have commenced break- 
ing in the lungs it is too late. To those who are disposed 
to try their skill in treating a consumptive horse, we give 
the following directions : 

Bleed moderately, taking three pints of blood at first, and 
on the sixth day afterward the same quantity again. For the 
general building up of the system, and especially to act upon 
the skin, give sulphur and resin. Accompany this with the 
following preparation for the throat and lungs : One pint of 
new milk, one gill of French brandy, one gill of honey, and 
half an ounce of finely-pulverized gum myrrh. Mix, and 
divide into two doses — one to be given in the morning, and 
the other at night. Continue the use of this remedy until 
the patient recovers or dies. 

This treatment will produce a marked abatement of the 
symptoms, at least in the early stages of the disease. It is 
worth a trial at almost an}- period, and it will rarely fail to 
relieve the distressing cough. 

Perhaps a good pasture will prove better than any med- 
icine, and, at any rate, will prove a valuable adjunct to the 
course of treatment. But watchful care must be taken to 
prevent such exposures as might induce colds, etc. Compre- 
hensively stated, the attention and general treatment extended 
the patient must be kind and generous throughout. 

We may appropriately conclude this subject by quoting 
the cautionary language of Youatt, which is yet hopeful in 
that it impliedly recognizes the chance of a cure: 

"When this disease has been properly treated, and appar- 
ently subdued, the horse can not be summarily and quickly 
dismissed to his work. He is sadly emaciated; he long con- 
tinues so; his coat stares; his skin clings to his ribs; his 
belly is tucked up, notwithstanding that he may have plenty 
of mashes, and carrots, and green meat, and medicine; his 
former gayety and spirit do not return, or, if he is willing to 



DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 305 

work, he is easily tired, sweating on the least exertion, and 
the sweat most profuse about the chest and sides ; his appe- 
tite is not restored, or, perhaps, never has been good, and 
the slightest exertion puts him completely ofi" his feed." 

PLEURISY. 

This is a disease of the pleura, the membrane which in- 
vests the lungs and lines the entire cavity of the chest. It 
may be the follower of bronchitis, and the adjunct of pneu- 
monia, and is generally the ofl'spring of exposure and bad 
treatment. It may aftect both sides or only one of them. 
Fortunately, the farmer's practice does not often include the 
treatment of this disease in our country, and probably not 
more than one in five hundred of our readers will ever be 
called upon to undertake a case of this kind. 

By the masses of farmers and horse-owners generally, 
pleurisy will be very likely to be mistaken for pneumonia, 
or, perhaps, even for bronchitis. It has a number of quite 
distinctive symptoms, however, most of which may be recog- 
nized without much difficulty by any ordinarily careful ob- 
server. One of the most characteristic of these is the peculiar 
respiration, the inspiration being short and very painful, from 
the extremely irritable condition of the pleura, consequent 
upon inflammation, while the expiration is affected by allow- 
ing the chest to fall slowly, and affords an interval of very 
great relief. The feeling is that which the human patient 
calls the stitch. Still, the breathing is somewhat quickened, 
raising to forty or fifty respirations per minute. The pulse is 
considerably accelerated, but, though small toward the last, 
is strong and wiry throughout ; whereas, in pneumonia, it is 
oppressed and sometimes hardly appreciable. The nostrils 
and eyes are of a natural color, or nearly so, and the former 
are not dilated. The legs, instead of being extended, as in 
pneumonia and bronchitis, are rather drawn together. The 
head is protruded rather than drooped ; the expression anx- 
ious, but brightening at times, at least in the earlier stages ; 
and when the sufferer turns to look at his flanks, his move- 
20 



306 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

ments are more sudden and spasmodic than in pneumonia. 
As in that disease, he can not be induced to lie down. There 
is a short, hurried cough, not easily distinguishable by most 
observers, however, from that which marks bronchial or pul- 
monary disease. The temperature is apt to be variable. 
Sometimes it is even warmer than natural, and, though gen- 
erally the reverse, the extremities are never so deathly cold 
as in pneumonia. The mouth, upon the other hand, is not 
so hot, and the breath, in this respect, is almost natural. 

TREATMENT. 

This is substantially the same as that prescribed for bron- 
chitis, with the addition of copious applications of corrosive 
liniment to the sides, low down, both in front and back of 
the shoulders, and between the fore-legs. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 307 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 

The digestive organs of the horse, partiqularly the stomach 
and bowels, are more subject to disease than any others ; 
while, from their location and their peculiar service in 
the animal economy, it is more difficult to understand the 
minutiae of their structure and functions than those of any 
other portions of his system, except the lungs. Besides 
the embarrassment to which the latter circumstance gives 
rise in treating intestinal diseases, there is this additional 
one: that the symptoms exhibited are so varied that the 
practitioner is often in great danger of being entirely misled 
as to the real nature and causes of the disorder. 

The stomach is the receptacle of not merely what the 
horse eats as food, but likewise of every nostrum which 
ignorance and quackery can force into it, and which too 
often itself proves the fruitful source of disease. To its 
inner coating a merciful Creator has given a degree of 
msensibility, which, though its only safeguard, is a power- 
ful one ; yet even this is not always sufficient to protect it 
from the dire effects of the poisons poured into it. , Con- 
sidered in relation to the bulk of his entire body, and es- 
pecially to the enormous capacity of the abdominal cavity, 
the stomach of the horse is very small, being only three or 
four times as large as in man, whose body is scarcely one- 
tenth the size of that of his faithful servitor. It contains 
but two or three gallons, while the intestines, when fully 
expanded, have a capacity of from twenty to twenty-four. 

So far as is known, it is provided with no gastric 
agencies, and conducts the process of digestion no further 



808 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

than simply softening down the food. The remaining 
operations are carried on in the intestines, which, hy their 
great length, presenting an immense extent of surface 
filled with absorbents, are especially adapted to the per- 




THE STOMACH. 

a The oesophagus, or gullet, extending to the stomach. 

b The entrance of the gullet into the stomach. The circular layers of the 
muscles are very thick and strong, and which, by their contractions 
help to render it difficult for the food to be returned or vomited. 

e The portion of the stomach which is covered by cuticle, or insensible skin 

d d The margin, which separates the cuticular from the villious portion. 

e e The mucous, or villous (velvet) portion of the stomach, in which the food 
is principally digested. 

/ TEe communication between the stomach and the first intestine. 

g The common orilice through which the bile and the secretion from the pan- 
creas pass into the first intestine. The two pins mark the two tubes 
here united. 

h A smaller orifice, through which a portion of the secretion of the pan- 
creas enters the intestines. 

formance of this duty. A remarkable peculiarity in the 
anatomy of this organ in the horse, is strikingly indicative 
of its limited part in the functions of digestion. As is well- 
known, it is the mucous membrane which is furnished with 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 309 

;he minute absorbents whose office it is to take up the 
digested particles of food, in the form of chyle, and trans- 
fer them to the general circulation. While this coating 
lines the entire inner surface of the intestines, not more 
than one-third of that of the stomach is similarl}^ provided, 
there being in the latter only a small patch of it, no larger 
than the two hands would cover, in the upper part, near 
the esophagus. 

Though apparently free from bilious disorders, the horse 
is frequently a sufferer from various derangements of the 
digestive fuuctions, some of which are liable to assume 
the gravest character quite suddenly. The simplest and 
least hurtful of these is 

SOUR STOMACH. 

■ The purely vegetable food of the horse, in the mouth re- 
ceives an imperfect mastication, with a merely partial moist- 
ening from the saliva; and in this condition it passes 
through the esophagus, or " swallow," to the stomach, 
where it is shut in above by the closing of the esophagus, 
and below by that of the 'pylorus — literally the door-keepers — 
which is the outlet to the alimentary canal. Here the crude 
material, greatly thinned by the quantity of water drank, 
is softened down into a pulpy mass called chyme, to allow 
whose passage into the small intestines, the pylorus, at the 
proper time, relaxes, and soon the stomach will be clamor- 
ing for more food. 

"When the animal is in sound health, this process goes 
on with perfect regularity and comfort; but, unfortunately, 
such is not always his condition. Irritation and undue 
heat often occur in the stomach, producing fermentation or 
sourness of its contents. He is likely, indeed, to bring 
about these uncomfortable results at any time, by eating 
either improper or too much food. It is in some disturb- 
ance or other of digestion that the prime cause may be 
found of the diseases, not only of the stomach itself, but 
likewise of those of the bowels; and, hence, also, the for- 



310 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

mation of those gases betrayed by low rumblings, and 
other indications, which nearly ahvays occasion restiveness 
and sufFerinof, and often end in an attack of flatulent colic. 
During this fermentation, carbonic acid gas is given ofi:', 
and sometimes with such rapidity that stricture of the 
pylorus takes place. The stomach soon becomes most pain- 
fully distended, from the constant accumulation of the gas, 
which the extreme heat of the organs, meanwhile, continues 
to greatly rarify. The owner soon finds that he has upon 
his hands a case of 

COLIC IN THE STOMACH. 

The symptoms become more and more aggravated, and, 
unless relief can be given, there is imminent danger of rup- 
ture of the stomach, which must kill the horse, of course. 
Few persons suspect how frequently this sad event hap- 
pens. 

A case which, several years ago, came within the author's 
own observation, at the village of Petersburg, Lincoln 
County, Tennessee, is so exactly in point that it merits 
a narration in detail. A horse, about ten years old, and 
in good condition of flesh, had been sick for several days, 
refusing all food, and manifesting the usual symptoms of 
intestinal disease. With the towns-people, including the 
owner, this was a plain case of hots ; and when the writer 
first saw him, a large man, weighing at least two hundred 
pounds, was riding him about the streets, to cure him 
by means of a charm which the fellow pretended to pos- 
sess. An opinion being asked, it was promptly given, to 
the efiect that the stomach-pump afforded the only hope, 
though the sufferer was probably too far gone for even this 
to save him; and that, as no such instrument for the horse 
could be found in the State, he must certainly die. About 
two hours afterward, he suddenly fell dead. 

A bystander at once suggested that, if the horse were cut 
open, his stomach would be found "perfectly riddled by the 
bot." The idea was caught up by the entire crowd, of 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 311 

not less than fifty persons, and, to gratify the general de- 
sire, the author consented to make an examination. The 
carcass was removed to a suitable place ; and when, in a 
few minutes, the viscera was fairly laid open, the cause of 
death was visible to all. The stomach was literally torn 
into shreds, and its contents were scattered throughout the 
entire abdominal cavity. So great had been the concus- 
sion, that the diaphragm was ruptured, and fragmentary 
debris from the stomach, was found in the region of the 
heart and lungs, l^o special indications of inflammation 
were discoverable in its coatings, although the organ was 
nearly destroyed by disease. The mucous membrane was 
entirely gone, and the cuticle was so much decomposed that 
in appearance it resembled gauze, or fine net-work, falling 
out as if it were an extraneous substance when the stomach 
was detached from its connection. The muscular coating 
was also much decomposed, and had become a soft mass, 
so that it could be torn almost like a piece of wet paper. 
A spectator described its condition by the blunt remark, 
" The thing is all rotten." The pylorus was still closed, 
its fearful stricture, whence had proceeded all the mischief, 
remaining as before death. 

In the small intestines traces of inflammation were abun- 
dant. Ten feet or more of these, immediately next the stomach, 
[>resented a blood-red appearance, and similar patches were 
found along the entire line of the bowels. From the stomach 
to the anus there was not a particle of alimentary substance. 
This empty condition invariably characterizes cases of this- 
kind, all the contents of the bowels below the stricture being 
speedily voided. 

Inflammation had undoubtedly existed throughout the 
digestive organs in a high degree, but fuel had been added 
to the flames by drenching the poor animal with almost 
incredible quantities of so-called medicines. The stomach 
must have contained at least two gallons of these nostrums : 
sweet oil, castor oil, turpentine, epsom salts, sweet milk, 
molasses, sage tea, and several others. In all probability 



312 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



the horse fell a victim to excessive drenching rather than 
disease, and would have had a much better chance for re- 
covery if nothing at all had been given him. 

The diseases of the stomach, described in the foregoing 
pages, may be recapitulated in their proper order as follows 

Sour stomach, produced by fermentation of the food. 

Exhalation of gases, causing painful distension. 

Inflammation, followed by decomposition. 

Spasmodic colic, with paroxysms of agony. 

Rupture of the stomach, and death. 

THE EOT. 

This is the proper place to consider this so-called disease, 
whose supposed frequency and fatality render it a subject of 
deep interest to every proprietor of the horse. It has given rise 
to numberless theories regarding both its cause and cure, all 




CUT OF THE BOT AND THE GAD-FLY. 

oe and b The eggs of the gad-fly, adhering to the hair of the horse. 

c The appearance of the bots adhering to the walls of the stomach. 

d The bot detached. 
e and / Gad-flies. 

strenuously urg3d by earnest advocates, of whom, neverthe- 
less, there are exceedingly few but are willing to confess 
they know next to nothing of the habits and oflice of tho 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. BVS 

bot, or of the effects created by the little creature's presence 
upon the horse's general system. Nearly all agree in this, 
however: that, in some way, the bot does kill the horse 
The common opinion is that he effects this by seizing hold 
of the stomach, from some rabid propensity which possesses 
him at certain undetermined periods, and eating or cutting 
his way entirely through its walls; and as to a remedy, that 
all depends upon the speedy administration of something 
which will compel him to relinquish his hold before his 
ravenous work has produced irreparable injury. 

These views are grossly erroneous. From personal in- 
vestigations, the author is satisfied that the public mind has 
been entirely misled upon the whole subject. What is sup- 
posed to be the ravages of the bot, is, in reality, the work 
of some inflammatorj^ disease. To begin with, the natural 
history of the bot has never been properly understood. The 
bot is hereditary with the hor^e, and is born into the world 
with him, the colt, at the moment of foaling, having the little 
parasite in his stomach in as perfect a state as the horse of 
six years. He is found attached to the cuticular or insensi- 
ble coating in the upper portion of the stomach — not by his 
head, as is popularly supposed, but hanging by his tail. For 
a mouth he has a little orifice, no larger than the point of a 
cambric needle, with which he feeds upon the food in the 
stomach, after it has been softened down into chyme. This 
tiny mouth he can close against any substance which oftends 
his dainty taste ; and, being protected by a scaly or bony cov- 
ering, upon which no acid, caustic, or poison will operate, he 
is much safer from the action of any hurtful element than 
the horse into whose stomach he is introduced. There is 
no evidence that in his normal condition he ever injures 
the horse's health in the least degree. 

The bot is an entirely difterent insect from the grub, or 
worm, with which he has no relationship whatever. The 
latter is the offspring of the gad-fly, and is, undoubtedly, an 
intruder. It is a species of light yellow worm, which passes 
away from the horse in the excrements during the months 



3.14 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

of July and August, and becomes imbedded in the earth, 
where the chrysalis is formed, whence, in time, is hatched the 
fly. The eggs of the fly are deposited upon the horse's skin, 
are bitten ofi", and find their way into the horse's stomach. 
Here the worm is developed in turn, and thus the species 
continues to be propagated. Unlike the hot, the grub never 
attaches itself to the coating of the stomach, but lives among 
the particles of food, the tough, fibrous portions of which it 
decomposes, and, in both the stomach and bowels, undoubt- 
edly performs the same ofiice for the horse that worms 
do in the child. When multiplied in great numbers, the 
grub may occasion much uneasiness and irritation, but never 
causes death, or even serious disease. 

Although the stomach is often found "completely riddled 
by the hot," as the popular expression is, there is good reason 
to believe that the work is done entirely after the horse is 
" struck b}' death." One or tvro facts will go far to prove 
the truth of a proposition which to many will appear so ex- 
traordinary. 

The cuticular coating of the stomach, to which the hot 
fastens himself by means of two little bearded hooks, is 
nearly, if not wholly, insensible, having no more feeling, 
apparently, than' the animal's hoofs. When the horse is in 
health, it is hard, rigid, impenetrable, and the hot, if ever so 
much disposed to do so, would attack it in vain ; but when 
death seizes him, this coating becomes relaxed and soft, and 
begins rapidly to decompose. Then only it is that the hot 
can, or ever does, work his way through it. Another fact, 
still more strongly corroborative of the above proposition, is 
this: that of any number of horses killed while in perfect 
health, and opened an hour or two afterward, there v ill be 
found not one whose stomach is not "riddled by the hot." 
Dissection has revealed the existence of this condition in 
hundreds of instances of sudden death from accident. 

Dr. John Franklin, of Sumner County, Tenn., relates the 
case of a horse instantly killed by the falling of a large 
timber, whose carcass he opened within a few hours after 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 315 

death, with the especial object of testing the theory that the 
hot forces a passage through the walls of the stomach, in all 
cases, when the disease is not of such a nature as to stupefy 
him. As he expected, the insects, in considerable numbers, 
had already cut their way out. 

The hot does not attack the stomach for the purpose of 
preying upon it, or of injuring the animal, but simply to 
seek escape from certain death himself. The same disease 
that is killing the horse threatens his destruction also. An 
instinct, similar to that which prompts vermin of nearly all 
kinds to leave a dead or dying carcass, teaches him that his 
old habitation is no longer a safe one, and hence his des- 
perate endeavors to get away. He has been found working 
up to the esophagus, passing through the small intestines, 
and even cutting through between the ribs almost to the 
skin itself. If possible, he would escape from the horse 
entirely. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS — ENTERITIS. 

In all the fatal cases of bots, so-called, there exist other 
causes amply sufhcient to produce death, the large majority 
being examples of putrid inflammation of the bowels — or 
enteritis, as it is scientifically designated — very frequently 
complicated with stricture. That this disease may be fully 
understood, it will be necessary to give a short description 
of the anatomy of the parts involved, which are very simi- 
lar in their structure to the corresponding organs in man. 
Proceeding from the stomach, the outlet of which is called 
the pylorus, or pyloric orifice, commences the line of small 
intestines, in the horse from fifty-four to sixty feet in 
ength, and comprising three divisions, the duodenum, the 
jejunum, and the illeum. The duodenum is that portion 
extending from the pylorus to the hepatic or biliary duct, 
which in the horse empties into the intestines about twenty- 
two inches from the stomach, or ten inches further than in 
man. The jejunum occupies about two-fifths of the length 
which remains, and, as its name implies — jejune, or empty — ig 



816 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



generally found, after death, filled with nothing but air. The 
illeum is the fleshy part of the bowels. Then come, in suc- 
cession, the caecum, or blind gut, which is the first of the 

S 




CUT OF THE INTESTINES. 

a The commencement of the small intestines. The biliary and pancreatic ducts 

may be seen a little below. 
b b The convolutions or windings of the small intestines. 

c A portion of the mesentery, a fold of serous membrane, wliich hangs over the 

greater part of the intestines, and is thickly inlaid with fat, designed to 

protect the included organs from cold and violence, and to facilitate their 

movements. 
d The small intestines, terminating in the csBCum 
e The caecum, or blind gut, with the bands running along it, puckering and 

dividing it into numerous cells. 
/ The beginning of the colon. 
g ff The continuation and expansion of the colon, divided, like the cascum, into 

cells. 
h The termination of the colon in the rectum. 
i The termination of the rectum at the anus. 

large intestines; the colon, the largest convolution of all; and 
the rectum, terminating in the outlet of the anus. The 
intestines are composed of three distinct coatings, or lay- 
ers, namely: the outer, or peritoneal, which forms the 
smooth, glassy investment of the contents of the abdom- 
inal cavity in general; the middle, or muscular one, con- 
sisting of two sets of fibers running transversely with the 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 317 

direct line of the intestines, and crossing each other at right 
angles ; and the inner coating, the villous or mucous mem- 
brane, which is spread, not only over the surface of the 
bowels throughout, but, as we have seen, over a portion of 
that of the stomach also. 

In enteritis, it is usually the jejunum, or airy subdivision 
of the small intestines, which is the seat of disease. Stric- 
ture, or stoppage, follows inflammation, and, in turn, pro- 
duces spasms of the bowels; and hence the disorder speci- 
fically known as spasmodic colic. Under the sympathetic 
influences of the feverish state of the bowels, the food sours 
in the stomacli, and the carbonic acid gas which is evolved 
escapes into the intestines, here becoming greatly expanded 
and rarified by the abnormal heat of the parts. Painful 
distension is speedily the result. As the gas irritates the 
sensitiv'e membraiK?, and increases the fever, so the fever, in 
turn, continues more and more to expand the gas and air. 
And now arises the peril of a grave and peculiar complica- 
tion. Whenever this distension occurs in any portion of the 
bowels, there is nearly always an equal contraction in the 
parts just beyond. As a net when pulled out in one part 
draws in at another, in like manner this distension and con- 
traction reciprocally affect each other, until, at length, the 
bowels become firmly locked up, affording no passage what- 
ever. This constitutes a stricture. 

The horse experiences great and increasing distress, and 
soon spasms set in. These appear to subside, at length, but 
presently they come on again, with redoubled violence. The 
poor sufferer sweats profusely, especially about the shoulders 
and sides, and scarcely less about the neck and head. He 
shakes and trembles constantly, twitching the muscles of his 
body convulsively ; he paws with his fore-feet, and putting 
them out, tries to stretch himself; he throws his head around 
to the side, as if to indicate where the pain is. Suddenly he 
lies down, and, endeavoring to roll over on his back, in that 
position strikes the fore-feet violently against the chest, and 
then as suddenly springs to his feet again. Throwing back 



318 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

his ears, as if angry, he swiftly starts oft', turns around two 
or three times, and drops to the ground. All his motions 
are rapid, and he continues switching and jerking his tail 
almost incessantly. No signs of swelling are discoverable; 
but the lips and ears are very cold, and the pulse ranges from 
65 to 80 per minute, whereas it should not be more than 
from 30 to 36. 

All these manifestations of acute suffering are caused by 
the severe inflammation and attendant contraction of the 
bowels, which are in imminent danger of becoming ruptured. 
This catastrophe nearly always forms the fatal climax in 
those cases where the horse suddenly drops dead. 

Sometimes, w^hen the stricture occurs at a considerable 
distance from the stomach, the intestines become perforated 
with small holes, over which, however, the mucus of the 
bowels may slough so as to fill them up, when, for a time, 
the patient appears to be growing better. But nothing can 
save him. He w^astes aw^ay with fever, continuing for days, 
or, it may be, for even weeks, and inevitably dies at last. 

The small intestines are much the most sensitive part of 
the alimentary canal, and, when affected by disease, they are 
the seat of pain proportionately acute. They are, also, the 
ones most subject to attacks of enteritis, and of irritation 
ending in stricture ; and as they are situated so far forward 
in the abdominal cavity as to be principally incased by the 
ribs, it is almost impossible to discover any swelling, even 
in the advanced stages of disease. 

Yet irritation and stricture often happen in the large 
bowels also. These swell, and become greatly distended ; the 
sides are pressed out, and the disease at once betrays its 
character as colic. 

There is no difference between this case and the one we 
have described more at length, except that the location is not 
the same. One is no more the colic than the other. In nearly 
all instances the attack is brought on, no matter which form 
it assumes, by immoderate eating or drinking, or, what is still 
worse, by both together. If in perfect health, the horse may 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 319 

gorge himself, perhaps scores of times, with impunity; but if 
there is any considerable derangement of the digestive func- 
tions, Nature, whose laws are every-where coincident, exacts 
the penalty of suflering, if not of death. 

TREATMENT. 

[t would be impossible to condemn too strongly the stupid 
practice, usuallj^ resorted to, of making the horse's stomach a 
receptacle for every vile nostrum which ignorance and pre- 
sumption can devise. A great many more horses are killed 
by excessive drenching than would die if nothing at all were 
given them. One person recommends one thing, and another 
advises something else, until, presently, a dozen or more dif- 
ferent remedies have been prescribed, each of which, though 
claimed as a certain specific, usually has no efi'ect save to 
hasten a fatal termination. The anxious and over-excited 
owner, that no effort may be left untried to save his faithful 
animal, gives all that he is bidden to ; and when the end 
comes, to which he himself has so largely but unwittingly 
contributed, he shakes his head in hopeless wonderment at 
the power of disease, or the strange ferocity of the bot. 

Yet there should be treatment of some kind, and that as 
speedily as possible; for, though it is true that the horse 
might recover without a finger being moved to assist him, no 
one can know this positively. On the other hand, all must 
recognize the fact that many disorders, in the systems of both 
man and beast, which at first are susceptible of easy control, 
may at last bafile the utmost skill of the practitioner, if neg- 
lected too long. 

The same methods will be equally effective, whether the 
trouble has arisen in the large or the small intestines. The 
great object to be obtained is a passage of the bowels, which 
must be brought about with all possible speed. When this is 
done, the horse's recovery may be guaranteed. As to the 
bot, the inoffensive little creature is never likely to do half as 
much damage as ignorant and foolish bystanders are. The 
system must be relaxed at once, that contraction and stric- 



320 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

ture may be relieved. Bleeding, then, must be the first re- 
sort, afibrding the only hope in obstinate cases. It is the 
sheet-anchor of the practitioner's treatment. The bleeding 
should be from the neck vein, and. never from the mouth. 
Blood is neither food nor medicine to the horse, but is posi- 
tively hurtful when taken into the stomach, in nearly all cases. 
Moreover, it is impossible from the mouth to take enough 
blood, or with sufficient rapidity to produce the desired effect 
It should flow rapidly, so that the required quantity may be 
discharged in the shortest time possible. 

The bleeding should be continued until there is a percep- 
tible faltering of the pulse. As comparatively few persons 
know where to look for the pulse, it will be proper here to 
describe it again, and, if possible, so plainly that its location 
can not be mistaken. It can readily be found by pressing 
the fingers upon the sub-maxillary artery, which passes 
directly over the extreme lower part of the under jaw-bone, 
where it feels like a small cord running across the edge ol 
the bone, under the skin. By resting the fingers upon this 
artery, the pulsation can be felt and counted in precisely the 
same manner as in one's wrist. If the owner has any timid- 
ity, let him remember that bleeding does not at all endan- 
ger the life of the animal. It is not the horse which the 
lancet attacks, but the disease. 

All that is needed in the form of medicine is some simple 
remedy to correct the acid condition of the stomach, which 
organ, even when not itself the seat of disease, is quickly 
affected sympathetically ; and, when there is fermentation of 
the food in consequence of obstructions, its own condition is 
the occasion of great distress. For this purpose, chloroform 
is the best prescription, and is especially valuable from the 
fact that a small dose suffices to secure very speedily the de- 
sired efl^ects. It is a powerful anodyne, allaying this condi- 
tion of the stomach at once ; gives instant relief from pain, 
and causes a speedy relaxation of the whole system. The 
dose should be a table-spoonful, in a gill of whisky mixed 
with half a pint of warm water — a remedy so perfectly harm- 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AXD EOWELS. 321 

(ess that there need not he the least fear in administering 
it; for, ahhongh chloroform is heating in its tendencies, its 
properties, when the stomach is in the condition we have 
described, undergo an entire change before it readies the seat 
of inflammation in the bowels. 

The object of this simple medication, it must be borne in 
n\iiid, is not to affect the hot; because not only does no 
medicine reach that portion of the stomach where the bot 
is located, but it would not disturb him if it did. Of the 
thousand baneful compounds given to kill the bot, or to 
"make him let go liis hold,''" as the common phrase is, not 
one ever accomplislied its object, unless at the expense of 
the horse's life also. They are much less offensive to the 
bot than scores of substances of which the horse often par- 
takes freel}'. If the bot is invulnerable to the effects of 
oak and hickory leaves, pennyroyal, dog-fennel, "jimson " 
leaves and berries, and many other plants equally noxious, 
the sago tea, the milk, the molasses, and the like, may as 
well be thrown out to the pigs. These can do no good 
whatever, except as they may possibly tend, in a limited 
degree, to correct the acidity of the stomach. 

In case the chloroform can not readily be procured, 
some strong soap-suds, weak lye, or a table-spoonful of 
soda, dissolved in a pint of milk, will serve as a substitute; 
and even the simple mixture of common salt and water 
will answer an admirable purpose. If the last named is 
used, it should be made by dissolving in a pint of warm 
water — as hot as the horse will bear it — all the salt which 
the liquid will hold in solution. It often proves almost as 
efficacious as chloroform. 

Having proceeded energetically with the treatment thus 
far, the practitioner, for the rest, must rely upon the im- 
mediate use of the clyster. Three table-spoonfuls of tur- 
pentine, added to a pint of melted lard, makes one of the 
best and safest clysters known. Warm soap-suds, thin 
starch, or salt and water, may be used for the same pur- 
pose, and are very simple and effective. If no syringe is at 
21 



822 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

hand, a long-ncckecl bottle will do instead; the bottom, or 
l)ack end, being elevated, the contents will be readil}'^ dis- 
charged into the rectnm. A liorn, or a long-necked gourd 
is nearly as convenient. Let nothing prevent this operation 
from being attended to, nor from being repeated until a pas- 
sage is obtained. Whoever the person is that has charge 
of the case, he must be frnitfnl in expedients. If one con- 
venience is not to be found, he must employ the substitute 
nearest at hand. Above all, he must see that the work is 
not only done, but done thoroughly. 

When a discharge from the bowels has been secured, the 
horse is safe for the present. His food should be light, and 
if it is in the season for it, pasture alone will be the best. 
He should have daily exercise, increasing from time to time, 
as he grows able to bear it. For three or four days, he 
should have as much pulverized sulphur and rosin, as he can 
be induced to take ; four ounces of the sulphur and two of 
the rosin, at a dose. 

Before proceeding to consider the diseases of the large in- 
testines, it will be well to refresh our memory in regard to 
the anatomy of these parts, which is well represented in 
the last cut. The c?ecum, with its remarkable blind pouch, 
appears at e; the colon, at f gg ; and the rectum between h 
and z, the latter of which is the outlet, the arms. 

The caecum, or blind gut, holds about four gallons, and in 
it are countless little absorbents, as it is from here that the 
greater part of the nutritive elements of the chyle is sup- 
posed to be transferred to the circulation. It serves as a 
reservoir for the large quantities of water which the horse 
drinks, and much of which passes directly to the blind pouch 
without tarrying in the stomach or intervening small intes- 
tines. The colon, in which the last processes of digestion 
are completed, is very large, filling about two-fifths of the 
abdominal cavity. In the rectum, the last of the intestines, 
the excrement accumulates in little balls, which receive their 
shape and consistency from the action of the numerous little 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 323 

cells of the colon, until tlie horse is disposed to evacuate 
them by the contraction of the proper muscles. In a horse 
of medium size, the large intestines will hold, altogether, 
about nineteen gallons. 

FLATULENT COLIC. 

This disease has its location in either the crecum or the 
colon, or sometimes in both. The colon is the part most 
violently affected. 

It may be excited, in great part at least, by sympathy with 
a diseased state of the stomach and small intestines, which 
can not be much inflamed without affecting the whole line 
of the alimentary canal. But its most frequent cause is un- 
doubtedly what may be termed stricture of the rectum — con- 
traction of the rectum upon the hard masses of excrement 
with such force that the passage even of gases becomes im- 
possible. If such a stricture did not occur somewhere, there 
could be no flatulent colic, of course, since all the gases 
usually generated would very readil^^ escape in the natural 
way. 

AVe have seen how common it is for these foul gases to 
be evi)lved during digestive disturbances in the stomach and 
small bowels. There may be fermentation of the contents 
of the cfficum and colon, producing the same results ; and, 
usually, the difficulty is greatly aggravated by the accumu- 
lations of gas pressing downward from the stomach and the 
small intestines intervening. 

Flatulent colic evidences pre-existent inflammation in some 
part of the alimentary tube, or, at least, great unnatural heat, 
which generates the noxious gases. These distend the colon, 
and then, one part of the net being drawn out, the other part 
draws in ; in other words, when the colon is greatly distended, 
there is a corresponding contraction at the throat of the rec- 
tum, and there the hard masses of excrement become so firmly 
impacted that it often requires a considerable manual exertion 
to dislodge them. Such a condition is not likely to occur ex- 
cept when the stomach has been gorged with immoderate 



324 AMERICAX FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

quantities of food, aud the collection of the foeces is correa 
ponding]}' great, 

TREATMENT. 

Sometimes the horse will recover from an attack of flatu- 
lent colic without any assistance. The stricture relaxes suf- 
ficiently to allow a passage of the foeces, when, the obstruc- 
tion being removed, the gases readily escape, and the horse 
is at once relieved. 

But such an issue can not be calculated upon, and ener- 
getic treatment must be commenced at once, for, in all dis- 
eases of this kind, time is precious. 

The esseiitial thing to be done is to remove the impedi- 
ment to the passage of the gases whicli are causing such a 
painful expansion of the bowels. A clyster will often effe(^t 
this, in connection with bleeding. It may be of salt and 
water, of soap-suds, or of lard, as is most convenient. By 
these means, the parts may be so relaxed as to admit of a 
passage, and, when this point is reached, the danger is 
over. 

The only course which can be infallibly relied upon, how- 
ever, is the operation which the books speak of as hack- 
raking, consisting simply of the removal of the impacted 
balls from the throat of the rectum by the hand. The strict- 
ure takes place about eighteen or twenty inches from the 
anus. The hand and arm should be well greased, and grad- 
ually pushed forward to the phice of the obstruction, and 
the balls carefully removed. If the forefinger is pushed 
through the ball, it can be pulled along more readily ; but 
the ball is generally too hard to permit of this being done. 
In this case, the forefinger must be gently passed over the 
ball, which is then to be rolled backward. Such will be 
the force with which the rectum contracts upon the hand 
aud arm that the pain will become very great to the oper- 
ator, and he will probably be compelled to withdraw the arm 
for a time. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 825 



INFLAMMATION AND RUPTURE OF THE COLON. 

If the stricture of the rectum be not relieved, the diffi- 
culty grows more and more serious. From the accumula- 
tion of the gases, the colon is distended to an almost incred- 
ible extent. The sides of the flanks are puffed out, and the 
horse looks as though he had been inflated with wind. The 
prevailing fever and heat rise constantly, and the symptoms 
become more and more acute. No one who has ever wit- 
nessed an attack of this kind can forget the terrible mani- 
festation of pain which it has occasioned. 

Subjected to a terrible strain from the expansibility of the 
heated gas, and even disorganized, to a certain extent, by 
its poisonous qualities, the coatings of the intestines at 
length give way, and become perforated Avith little holes. 
From that moment the horse is doomed. Up to this period 
there may have been hopes of a recovery, but this catas- 
trophe settles the question. It will be almost impossible to 
decide the time of its occurrence, and perhaps the patient 
even seems better, as the fearful distension of the bowels is 
now greatly relieved by the escape of the gas through the 
perforations. If these are large, death will soon ensue; but 
if small, the horse may possibly linger for several days. 

TREATMENT. 

The attack we have been describing is essentiallj^ the same 
as enteritis, or perhaps it is onl}^ a form of that disease, and 
hence the treatment must be of the same character. 

Our first operation is bleeding. It relaxes the parts, and 
thus accomplishes what medicines will not and can not do, 
for the}^ never reach the seat of the trouble. But bleeding 
having been efficiently performed, medicines may be of much 
assistance in what remains of the treatment. The properties 
to be sought in their selection are those which will neutral- 
ize and destroy the poisonous gases, and that will make the 
remedy both a disinfectant and an anti-spasmodic. The 
chloroform mixture prescribed for enteritis possesses all 



826 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

these, and is tlic best preparation known for securing the 
desired eflects. If there is high fever, it will prove injuri- 
ous, just as will all other powerful medicines. But it may 
be safely employed in the large majority of cases, and is not 
only exceedingly efficient, but rapid in its action. Next in 
value to the chloroform is that simple prescription, hot salt 
and water. This never does any harm, and its materials are 
always at hand. 

In the first stages of the attack, bleeding and a quart of 
hot salt and water will rarely fiiil to cure. If the case is 
severe or obstinate, bathe the flanks and the parts between 
the hind legs with the salt and water, as hot as the horse 
can bear it ; or, still better, do this with the hot decoction 
of tobacco. Such a course tends to hasten the relaxation of 
the parts materially. 

INFLAMMATION AND BLEEDING OF THE RECTUM. 

This is a condition we have frequently been called upon 
to treat in our veterinarj^ practice. It usually either ac- 
companies or follows inflammation of the colon. Sometimes 
it is apparently both a feature and a successor of that disease. 

Not only is there inflammation and swelling, but there is 
protrusion, forming the jjrolapsus ani of the doctors, and 
blood is discharged from the parts in considerable quantities. 

TREATMENT. 

Such a case d6mand3 immediate attention. Cold salt and 
water is the remedy, applied as both a wash and a clyster. 
The addition to this of a slight infusion of chlorate of pot- 
ash, and also some of the golden seal, will decidedly increase 
its efficiency. It may be used as often as convenient. 

If this condition is not connected with any disease of the 
bowels, no bleeding will be necessary. 

SORENESS AND ITCHING OF THE ANUS. 

Following after diseases of the rectum, and occasionally 
from other causes, the anus sometimes becomes sore and ^r- 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 327 

ritable, the parts showing a peculiar dryness and scurfiaess. 
The horse rubs the roots of his tail, often until nearly all 
the hair is worn away. Many persons imagine the trouble 
lies about the roots of the tail or the hairs. But the irrita- 
tion really exists at the point we have named, and the parts 
which the horse rubs are as near it as he can reach. Some- 
times, however, the itching may be occasioned by worms. 

TREATMENT. 

Keep the parts well greased with some lard, in which a 
little fine salt has been mixed. This will soon remove the 
trouble. In a few cases, we have found the soreness to exist 
just within the rectum, and have successfully modified the 
treatment by pressing a little of the salt lard, and some 
golden seal just within the anus. 



328 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 

The purpose wliicli the liver subserves in the animal econ- 
omy is an important one, and upon the proper discharge of 
the functions of this organ the health of any animal is 
largely dependent. It is in the liver that the bile is elimi- 
nated from the blood, and hence this viscus is considered a 
gland, by far the largest one in the body. Using the terms 
excretion and secretion in the distinctive senses indicated on 
page 58 of this work, the action of the liver is both secret- 
ive and excretory — secretive because the admixture of bile 
with the chyle is essential to the healthy performance of the 
digestive process ; excretory because if the bile were allowed 
to remain in the blood, it would vitiate and' poison the entire 
circulation. These considerations will better enable us to 
understand how important a bearing the condition of this 
organ must have upon the general health. 

In the horse, the bile from the liver, together with a whitish 
fluid from the pancreas (or sweet-bread, as it is vulgarly called) 
enters the small intestines at the termination of the duode- 
num, about twenty-two inches from the pyloric orifice of the 
stomach. These secretions are conveyed through the biliary 
and pancreatic ducts, which are shown near a, in the cut of 
the intestines, in the preceding chapter. The horse has no 
gall-bladder, so that the bile, as fast as it is eliminated from 
the blood, passes directly to the intestines. He is less sub- 
ject to liver complaints than either any of the remaining 
domestic animals, or his master — man. 

This is a circumstance which the farmer ma}' well be thank- 
ful for, on account of the obscurity of the symptoms in such 
cases, and the extreme difiiculty of determining precisely 



DISEASES OF THE LIVEE, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 329 

what the trouble is. In fact, it is only by a post mortem ex- 
amination that the most experienced can make a diagnosis, 
even tolerably satisfactory. Perhaps the following extract 
from that nsnalh^ precise and reliable veterinarian, Youatt, 
will illustrate all that we could wish to say upon the vague- 
ness and uncertainty which surrounds our knowledge of 
hepatic diseases : 

" If horses, destroyed on account of other complaints, are 
examined when they are not more than five 3'ears old, the 
liver is usually found in the most healthy state; but, when 
they arrive at eight or nine or ten 3'ears, this viscus is fre- 
quently increased in size; it is less elastic under pressure; 
it has assumed more of a granulated or broken-down ap- 
pearance ; the blood does not so readil}^ permeate its vessels, 
and, at length, in a greater or less quantity, it begins to exude, 
and is either conliued under the peritoneal covering, or 
oozes into the cavity of the bellj^ There is nothing, for 
awhile, to indicate the existence of this. The horse feeds 
well, is in apparent health, in good condition, and capable 
of constant work, notwithstanding so fatal a change is taking 
place ni this important viscus; but, at length, the peritoneal 
covering of the liver suddenly gives way, and the contents 
of the abdomen arc deluged with blood, or a sufficient quan- 
tity of this fluid has gradually oozed out to interfere with the 
functions of the viscera. 

" The symptoms of this sudden change are pawing, shift- 
ing the posture, distension of the belly, curling of the upper 
lip; sighing frequently and deeply; the mouth and nostrils 
pale and blanched, the breathing quickened ; restlessness, de- 
bility, fainting, and death. 

" On opening the abdomen, the intestines are found to be 
deluged with dark venous blood. The liver is either of a 
fawn or light yellow, or brown color, easily torn by the 
finger, and, in some cases, completely broken down." 

Hemorrhage of the character above described, when it is 
checked before the animal suffers much from it, is said to 
produce the genuine gutta serena of professional occulists, that 



830 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

kind of glass eye which occasions permanent blindness; but 
upon this point our experience does not enable us to add. 
testimony of any sort. 

JAUNDICE, OR YELLOWS. 

The liver of the horse is sometimes attacked by inflam- 
mation, from one of whose symptoms the disease is known 
by the names here given. "Yellows" is the w^ord of the 
common people. The best authorities of recent date discard 
the term " jaundice " as being apt to mislead, the slightly yel- 
lowish tinge of the eye and skin being no indications of such 
a state as is understood when it is applied to the human 
patient. 

Youatt's description of the disease, though under the old 
designation, is very good. 

" Jaundice occasionally appears, either from an increased 
flow or altered quality of the bile, or obstruction even in 
this simple tube [the biliary, or hepatic duct]. The yellow- 
ness of the eyes and mouth, and of the skin where it is not 
covered with hair, mark it sufficiently plain. The dung is 
small and hard ; the urine highly colored ; the horse languid, 
and the appetite impaired. If he is not soon relieved, he 
sometimes begins to express considerable uneasiness; at other 
times he is dull, heavy, and stupid. A characteristic symp- 
tom is lameness of the right fore-leg, resembling the pain in 
the right shoulder of the human being in hepatic aflliections. 
The principal causes are overfeeding or overexertion in 
sultry weather, or too little work, generally speaking, or in- 
flammation or other disease of the liver itself. 

" It is, at first, necessary to inquire whether this aflfection 
of the liver is not the consequence of the sympathy of that 
organ with some other part; for, to a very considerable de- 
gree, it frequently accompanies inflammation of the bowels 
and the lungs. These diseases being subdued, jaundice will 
disappear. If there is no other apparent disease to any great 
extent, an endeavor to restore the natural passage of the bile 
by purgatives may be tried, not consisting of large doses, lest 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 331 

there sliould be some undetected inflammation af the lungs 
or bowels, in either of which a strong purgative would be 
dangerous; but, given in small quantities, repeated at short 
intervals, and until the bowels are freely opened. Bleeding 
should alw^ays be resorted to, regulated according to the ap- 
parent degree of inflammation, and the occasional stupor of 
the animal. Plenty of water, slightly warmed, or thin gruel, 
should be given." 

TREATMENT. 

Our remedies in this disease are necessarily constitutional, 
rather than specific ; or, perhaps, it would be still more 
proper to class them as preventives. They consist of sulphur 
and resin, and a very free use of the bark of the yellow 
poplar, either m the form of a powder, or as a decoction, to be 
administered as a drench. If this bark, in chips or pulver- 
ized, be kept in. the manger, the horse will eat considerable 
quantities of it. It acts as one of the best of tonics for him. 
Golden seal operates very advantageously in the same man- 
ner, and, in connection with sulphur and resin, forms a most 
excellent tonic alterative. The dose is one ounce of the 
powder, in his feed or in the compound of sulphur and resin. 
But, above all the alteratives known to the profession gen- 
erally, we give the preference to the " jimson " seed. This 
may be considered the liver and blood medicine for the 
horse. 

To the above list of remedies may be added Prof. Dale's 
powders (see Chapter XXIV), which are highlj'- recommended 
for their action upon the blood and general system of the 
horse, 

ENLARGEMENT OF THE SPLEEN. 

What is the precise function of the spleen — or melt, as it 
is commonly called — has never been fully demonstrated. 
This strange organ is subject to enlargement, but from what 
cause, or by what remedies to counteract it, no one seemi 
to have more than surmised. "We confess to an entire igno- 



332 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

ranee iu relation to a subject which, at any rate, is of no 
practical moment to the farmer. Youatt says the spleen 
" has been ruptured," but to bring this about must certainly 
require the most extraordinary violence. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS, OR NEPHRITIS. 

The kidneys are frequently the seat of disease, one of 
whose most acute manifestations is that of their inflamma- 
tion, technically denominated ne'phritis. The causes of this 
condition are various. Perhaps as common as any is ex- 
posure of the loins to wet when the animal stands still for a 
long time, especially if the atmosphere is raw and chilly, as 
well as damp. AVe know that when certain substances also 
are introduced into the stomach and subjected to the di- 
gestive process, that their absorption results in great irrita- 
tion and disturbance of renal action (renal being a word 
that signifies " relating to the kidneys," which were anciently 
called the reins). Thus, moldy feed of every kind is found 
to have a strong tendency to bring on urinary diseases. 
Many strong diuretics, of which ignorant practitioners are so 
extremely fond, possess the same hurtful properties in such 
degree as should condemn their use entirely, except, perhaps, 
in the hands of a man of known experience and caution. 
To this class belong all such mineral poisons as saltpeter, nux 
vomica, blue stone, and copperas. 

Severe strains, and other injuries of the loins and hips, 
seem often to cause inflammation of the kidneys, though the 
connection between the two circumstances is not very ob- 
vious; and it has been supposed that the disease, in such 
cases, is developed by exposure to cold while in a state of 
exhaustion, or that some branch of the venal artery or vein 
has been ruptured by the violence of the preceding exertion. 

We believe that bad treatment of every kind predisposes 
to venal afi'ections as one of the effects of constitutional de- 
bility, and its tendency to functional derangement. For this 
reason, therefore, if the many stronger ones were all lacking, 
low, damp situations should always be avoided, and the foul 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 833 

air and fetid breath of many stables ought never to be tol- 
erated. Finally, whatever produces disorder in the digestive 
apparatus will be quite apt to extend its harmful influence 
to the kidneys, also, as adverted to above. 

" The early symptoms," says Youatt, " are those of fever, 
generally; but the seat of the disease soon becomes evident. 
The horse looks anxiously round at his flanks ; stands with 
his hind legs wide apart; is unwilling to lie down; straddles 
as he walks; expresses pain in turning; shrinks when the 
loins are 2:)ressed, and some degree of heat is felt there. The 
urine is voided in small quantities; frequently it is high- 
colored, and sometimes bloody. The attempt to urinatr 
becoms more frequent, and the quantity voided smaller, until 
the animal strains painfully and violently, but the discharge 
is nearly or quite suppressed. The pulse is quick and hard — 
full in the early stage of the disease, but rapidly becoming 
small, yet not losing its character of hardness. These symp- 
toms clearly indicate an afl:ection of the urinary orgausj ; but 
they do not distinguish inflammation of the kidney from 
that of the bladder. In order to eflect this, the hand must be 
introduced into the rectum. If the bladder is felt full and 
hard under the rectum, there is inflammation of the neck of 
it; if it is empty, yet on the portion of the intestines im- 
mediately over it there is more than natural heat and tender- 
ness, there is inflammation of the body of the bladder ; and 
if the bladder is empty, and there is no increased heat or 
tenderness, there is inflammation of the kidney." 

TREATMENT. 

Bleeding should be resorted to at once, in order to abate 
the inflammation. An ounce of assafetida, or even more if 
the case is urgent, may be given safely, as a pill. A third 
of a pound of Epsom salts, administered in the usual manner, 
will do nearly as well. Make a free application of the magic 
nerve liniment to the loins; or the corrosive liniment may 
be used instead, if more convenient. The patient should be 
plied with a small quantity of sulphur and resin daily. The 



334 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

latter is a mild diuretic, and the only one which should be 
given. 

It' it is winter-time, be sure and see that the stable is warm 
and dry ; and should it turn cold, cover the animal with a 
bhinket. The feed should he light and moist, a large pro- 
portion of! it green. If pasture can be had, no other food 
will be needed. 

Especial attention should be paid to removing the causes 
of the disease, if they still exist ; and, in all cases, the entire 
diet should be changed at once. The effect of this course 
upon the character of the urine will soon prove of marked 
benefit. When feeding any horse moldy and unwholesome 
food, the owner might profitably stop and consider whether 
he is not losing two dollars in horse-flesh where he saves 
one in the cost of hay and oats of the best quality. If an at- 
tack of this disease follows the use of such food, he can not 
escape conviction under the charge of having produced it; 
and if the horse dies, he is the destroyer. 

PROFUSE STALLING, OR DIABETES. 

Of this disease we know but little more than its existence, 
and its obvious manifestations in a troublesome and excess- 
ive flow of urine. Of course, it proceeds from an unnaturally 
increased action of the kidneys, but its primary causes are 
obscure. Strong diuretic medicines, as might be expected, 
sometimes develop it; and unwholesome food, such as mow- 
burnt hay, moldy fodder, etc., has a similar tendency. In 
England, the disease is said to be much more common than 
formerly, 

TREATMENT. 

We recommend a decoction, or tea, made of whortleberry 
leaves, the plant known to the botanist as the uoa ursi. Take 
two ounces of the leaves and boil them well in a quart of 
water. This will make two doses, one of them to be given 
in the morning of each alternate day, the treatment being 
continued until the trouble is removed. Bleeding will not 
be necessary in this case. 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. o35 

Be at pains to remove from the customary diet ever}^ arti- 
cle of food having a diuretic tendency, et^pecially if it is foul 
and unliealthy generally. If this is neglected, you run the 
risk of soon having a case of inflammation of the kidneys 
on your hands. 

BLOODY URINE, OR HiEMATURA. 

Bloody discharges are sometimes mixed with the urine, 
and this may occur, in connection with its flow, in natural 
increased or diminished quantities. Occasionally the blood 
passes away in lumps of a somewhat dingy hue, but it is oft- 
ener diflused through the urine, giving it a highly-colored 
brownish-red tint. The causes of this phenomenon are not 
well understood, but it is believed to be occasioned by some 
mechanical injury within the kidneys or about the region of 
the loins — some lesion of the parts, which occasions an oozing 
out of blood, continuing until the wound is healed. The 
results of dissection indicate that the mischief, in some cases, 
proceeds from the presence of a species of little worms, of 
cancer, or of sharp calculus in the kidneys. 

TREATMENT. 

Moderate bleeding will be beneficial in most cases. Use 
the whortleberry tea, as prescribed in the last section, and, 
if any thing more is needed, give a solution of the acetate of 
potash in half a pint of cold water. In preparing the solu- 
tion, the proportions will be two drachms of the acetate of 
potash to four ounces of water. In a very mild case, a few 
days of rest will sometimes set matters right, without any 
thing additional. 

THICK AND ALBUMINOUS URINE. 

In our country, horses are very subject to the annoyance 
of thickened urine, often of a mucilaginous consistency. In 
its mildest stages, this affection is characterized by a thick, 
reddish-brown discharge, when the urine first begins to flow, 
but changing soon to a more natural appearance, and ending 



336 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

witli a whitish, milky fluid; or, as sometimes happens, the 
process is exactly the reverse of this. When the disease is 
further advanced, the urine is thicker and of the deeper tinge 
at every period of its discharge, and often has an offensive 
smell. Hundreds of our readers have doubtless seen the 
case in so bad a form that the urine flowed and fell to the 
ground like a stream of molasses, and was nearlj^ as dark in 
color. 

The thick, milky discharge resembles that which a few 
veterinary writers have described under the name of albu- 
minous urine, in which the kidneys secrete an excessive 
quantity of albumen — the sticky element of the blood, and 
that which is found, almost unmixed with any other sub- 
stance, in the white of an egg. 

In this condition, there is great difficulty experienced in 
passing the urine, which the horse seeks to overcome by 
stretching, straining, and putting out his fore-feet as far aa 
pjossible. Some stiffness in the hind legs and hips also ac- 
companies it, and occasionally there is some fever. As will 
now be described, this is one of the agencies instrumental in 
producing the painful disease which is known as gravel — 
the formation of calculi, or stones, in the kidneys and bladder. 

WHITE OR LIMY URINE. 

In all urinary discharges, there is a certain amount of cal- 
carious or limy substances, which, if they pass away natur- 
ally and without any obstruction, are not prejudicial to the 
ammal's health. Even when these limy secretions are excess- 
ive, they do not probably bring on any specific disease, until 
the urine takes on the albuminous character, mentioned 
above; and then there is a mechanical union of the sticky 
albumen and the limy matter, so that the latter is cemented 
into little balls, or lumps, which continue to slowly increase 
in size, and, at last, become very painful. As a certain com- 
bination of circumstances is necessary to solidify the fine mist 
of the clouds into the rattling hail-stones, so it requires the pres- 
ence and action of the albumen to unite the impalpable limy 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 337 

deposits of the urine into calculi. "W"e have uow come to the 
subject of 

GRAVEL, OR STONE IN THE BLADDER. 

The latter of these terms is not popularly applied to the 
disease until the calculi have become of considerable size, and 
occasion extreme suffering; but this is only an aggravation 
of gravel. 

The origin of this most distressing complaint is to be found 
in the kidneys rather than the bladder; for, although calculi 
are oftener found in the latter, it is every way probable that 
they exist there only as secondary results. According to this 
view, they are first formed in the kidneys, and, passing to 
the bladder when still quite small, frequently continue to 
grow until they attain an astonishing size. Some have been 
removed from the bladder, by surgical operations, that 
weighed four ounces. In the human subject, the kidneys 
are situated almost directly over the bladder, by which ar- 
rangement the force of gravity acts to convey the little cal- 
careous mass along the latter. But in the horse the case is 
difierent. The passage communicating between the two or- 
gans is very nearly horizontal, and the influence of gravity, 
in eifecting the end referred to, is hardly noticeable; hence 
calculi not unfreqnently remain in the horse's kidneys, and 
do great injury to those organs. In other cases, the calculi 
pass into the bladder, and, when the urine is voided, are car- 
ried hj its current into the neck of that organ, and partially 
or wholly close this outlet, and the stream then flows either 
very slowly or is suppressed entirely. 

We have no certain means of detecting the existence of 
calculi in the kidneys, and the fact can only be inferred from 
the scantiness of the urine, when this is not traceable to any 
tronble within the bladder, and by the general symptoms ot 
venal disease. But when these bodies are in the bladder, 
they may be readily felt by passing the hand into the rectum 
and pressing the fingers on the bladder, which lies immedi- 
ately underneath. This is a sure test, if the calculi are of 
any size whatever. 
22 



338 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The sjanptoms of" gravel are generally very much the same 
as those of spasmodic colic; but they come on less rapidly, 
and not so severe, while the horse's actions point to a spot 
further back than in colic as the seat of his suffering. But 
great difficulty is manifested in voiding the urine, whose 
passage is attended with violent straining and groans of dis- 
tress; and, as before intimated, the irregularities of the urinal 
jlow may even amount to a total suppression. The color and 
heat of the urine is another characteristic indication. In 
both colic and gravel the sufferer sweats profusely, but there 
is more of this about the flanks and loins in the latter dis- 
ease. 

Stone in the bladder is the cause of the most acute sufl'er- 
ino". Persons wdio have been thus afflicted describe their 
tortures as beyond the power of expression. Even if the 
passage of urine is not much obstructed, the w^eight and pres- 
sure of such a body within the bladder is a constant source 
jf a-UiO^-afce and irritation, while its rough and jagged edges 
may lacerate and seriously injure the delicate membranes of 
all these parts. 

Happily, the farmer rarely has such a case to encounter 
among his stock; but when he does, he will ahvays find it a 
most obstinate disease to manage. At best, it will take time 
to remove the difficulty, which, in severe cases, it will .defy 
his utmost endeavors to do, nothing but a delicate surgical 
operation offering any hopes of success. 

TREATMENT. 

"We give two remedies, both of wdiich have cured, and 
both of which have been known to fail — as all treatment 
frequently must fail in this disease. Our preference, how- 
ever, is indicated by the order in which we here mention 
them. 

The first is "jimson seed." That this was of great value 
in cases of gravel, we learned in treating a fine horse, be- 
longing to Mr. Robert McDonald, of Salem, Tippah County, 
Mississippi. This was a case of chronic distemper, with the 



DISEASES OF THE LIVEE, UEINARY ORGANS, ETC. 339 

complication of gravel in an aggravated form. "Jimson 
seed " was employed as an alterative and tonic in treating 
the distemper, and effectually cured the gravel also. 

The dose is an ounce, or large table-spoonfal, in the feed, 
ever}^ other day, until the horse is better, or until five or six 
doses have been given. Accompanying this, prepare and 
give the following: Four ounces of the spirits of niter, half 
an ounce of the oil of juniper, and one ounce of the oil of 
sassafras. Divide this into four doses, and give one of them 
in the morning, and another at night, for two successive days. 

The other remedy is to take a quart of green coffee, and 
boil it in a gallon of water until the strength is all out, and 
only about a quart of water is left. Divide this into three 
doses, and give one dose, with an ounce of spirits of niter 
in it, every other day. 

In an experience of twenty years, we have seen but few 
w^ell-defined cases of gravel. Four or five we treated, and 
of these we succeeded in curing all but one. The exception 
was a mule in most pitiful condition when we first saw him. 
There had been an entire suppression of urine for a week, 
and the parts were very much swollen. Whether our di- 
rections were strictly carried out we never learned, but we 
did learn that the animal died. 

SUPPRESSION OF URINE. 

This painful disorder has already been adverted to as one 
of the occasional symptoms of gravel, and the presence of 
large calculi in the kidneys and bladder; but this, although 
the most common cause, is by no means the only one. The 
same efi'ect may follow stricture of the urethra, produced by 
some mechanical injury. The urethra, as the reader will 
recollect, is the canal extending from the neck of the blad- 
der, and through which the urine is voided. Inflammation 
and swelling of the neck of the bladder also may obstruct 
or entirely prevent the urinal flow. From whatever cause 
it has originated, such a condition is necessarily productive 
of intense pain. 



340 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



TREATMENT. 

lu all cases of this complaint, give tlie spirits of niter mix- 
ture, prescribed in the last section for gravel ; but the quan- 
tity there specified should be divided into three instead of 
four doses, of which administer one at morning, noon, and 
night, in a pint of warm water. If gravel be the cause of 
the trouble, the niter mixture should be used in connection 
with the other treatment laid down for that disease. Should 
there be much swelling of the parts, bathe them w^ell with 
cold salt and water, three or four times a day. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. 

In nearly all cases, the existence of this disease is due to 
gravel, yet occcasionally one finds a case of primary inflam- 
mation of the bladder. The books call this disorder cystitis. 
The neck is that part of the organ most generally aflected, 
the membranes of its body being involved but comparatively 
seldom. 

There is always a degree of inflammation in connection 
with gravel, owing to the mechanical irritation of the parts. 
Aside from this, we know of no other cause for this disease, 
except the administration of certain poisons as diuretics, con- 
spicuous in the list of which are cautharides and nux vomica. 
If people will force such substances into the horse's stomach, 
they deserve to lose their stock. But how can they plead 
guiltless to the charge of wantonly torturing and destroying 
those dumb brutes committed to their control by the benefi- 
cent Creator? 

TREATMENT. 

Copious bleeding is the first step in the treatment. Not 
less than a gallon of blood should be extracted at once. 
Then give the niter mixture, as directed for gravel. Let the 
patient have a pint of flaxseed tea three times a day, and, 
if he will eat at all, set before him only light, soft food — 
preferably a bran-mash — rye-bran, if it can be procured 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 3il 

Batlie tlie loins, sheath, and adjacent parts with cold salt 
and ^yater. In hot weather, use ice, if it can be got. 

Let the liorse remain perfect]}^ still, or as nearly so as pos- 
sible, lie should have no strong food for a long time, and, 
unless the owner is willing to dispense with his services for- 
ever, there should be a total banishment of moldy hay and 
fodder from his manger, and only the most sparing use of 
corn for all the future. 

FOUL SHEATH. 

A foul sheath is a low voiced commentary on the neglect 
and stupidity of the horse's keeper. The number of horses 
that suffer from this condition — growing poor, sinking into 
low condition, and sometimes even dying from its effects — is 
really astonishing; and so, also, is the frequency with which 
it causes other and serious diseases. Inattention in this re- 
gard has nearly, or quite, ruined many an animal for a time, 
and sometimes permanently. 

"We have been called to see at least a hundred horses, 
man}' of them so reduced as to be "on the lift," when 
nothing else was the matter; and to the same cause ma}' be 
traced many cases of stricture of the urinary organs — sup- 
pression of urine, bloodj^^ discharges, and even inflammation 
of the kidneys. A horse in this condition will invariably 
be colicky, for we have good reason to know that the in- 
flammation set upon these parts often extends its influence 
to the bowels. 

The difficulty consists in the collection of lumps of black, 
wax}' substance inside of the sheath and its upper extremity. 
In some cases, there is only one of these lumps, while in others 
we have found two, three, or four of them, varying in bulk 
from that of a walnut to a hen's egg of large size. If these 
are long permitted to remain, they produce soreness, fever, 
and inflammation, so that the horse dribbles his water from 
the sheath. Matter begins forming in time; and it has often 
excited both our astonishment and indignation to see how 
blind some owners are when the horse is even in this condition. 



342 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

We have been called on to examine perhaps fifty poor, 
broken-down animals, from whose sheaths putrid, offensive 
matter had been running for months, and the horse was so 
stiff from its effects that he could hardlj' move at all; and 
all this time the stupid attendant "could not tell, for the life 
of him," what was the trouble. 

Foul sheath is intimately associated with fever and lis- 
ease of the urinary organs, and, in many cases, is caused by 
them. But it is oftener a promoter of them. Old horses are 
much more subject to it than younger ones, the mucous 
secretion which JSTature furnishes to lubricate the parts and 
facilitate their movements being apparently more thick and 
wax}" in old age. 

The symptoms will l)c easily recognized by an observant 
spectator. The horse does not protrude the penis at all in 
the act of urinating, but lets the water run out of his sheath. 
Such an indication invariably points to something wrong- 
in this quarter. There is also considerable soreness of the 
parts, stiffness of the hips, and a disposition to straddle out 
the hind legs, in order to give as much room and as free 
play as possible to the irritated surfaces. When in health, 
the horse usually throws back the hind limbs and drops the 
hips, in which position he sometimes makes two or three 
efforts before the stream begins to flow ; but, in the case 
under consideration, he hardly moves at all, and seems 
rather to permit than force the urination. The explanation 
of tins is, that every motion and tlie ordinar}^ contraction 
of the muscles concerned in this operation necessarily give 
him pain. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment is very simple. The first thing to be done 
is to clean the sheath. Remove the lumps, if there be any, 
with the hands ; then wash out thoroughly with some clean 
soap-suds; after which, grease with a spoonful of lard in 
which has been mixed half as much fine salt. Be certain 
that this is applied to all parts of the inside of the sheath, 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, UEINARY ORGANS, ETC. 343 

and let it remain until the second day. ITow wash out with 
soap and water, and apply the lard and salt as before. This 
treatment must be continued until the parts are well, or 
until the foul smell that communicates to the hand or cloth 
employed has entirely disappeared. 

Bathe the outside of the sheath, two or three times a day, 
with cold water, if it is in the summer time, but in the 
winter have the water warmed. If the horse is in quite 
a bad condition, or has fever, bleed once, taking three or 
four quarts of blood, and give him plenty of sulphur and 
resiu. Do not work him until he is well again. 

COLT FOUNDER. 

During the years from 1850 to 1856 inclusive, a remark- 
able disease prevailed extensively in many parts of the val- 
ley of the Mississippi among brood-mares, to which the peo- 
ple of those sections gave the name of colt founder. It 
always occurred while the mare was heavy with foal, and 
first showed itself by tenderness and soreness of the loins, 
accompanied by fever. This soon brought on extreme de- 
bility, ending in complete prostration and death. In some 
instances, a few days sufficed to reduce the sufferer so much 
that she was " on the lift," while in others the disease did 
its work much more slowly. 

Two out of every three mares thus attacked died sooner 
or later, and above one-half of these before foaling. If the 
animal succeeded in giving birth 'to the colt, she sometimes 
recovered, but more frequently she died before this took 
place. We have known a number of colts born when the 
mothers were so weak that they could not stand on their 
feet; and, in most of these cases, the offspring were not only 
born alive, but were raised by hand, and made fine horses. 
The comparatively few mares that recovered after parturi- 
tion did so only after a long time, and a large proportion 
were feeble, and disqualified for service for a twelvemonth 
afterward. 

One feature of the disease, in particular, was well calculated 



344 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

to arrest the attention of the farmer and veterinarian, and 
this was that its favorite victims were selected from among 
the finest brood-mares on some of the best stock farms, and 
especial!}" those of Middle Tennessee. It was a most painful 
scene, yet one often to be witnessed, to discover a fine, large, 
fleshy brood-mare, heavy with foal, lying helplessly upon her 
side, unable to rise. 

No specific was ever found for " colt founder." Various 
remedies were tried, some of which often gave relief, and at 
times was undoubtedly the means of saving life. Neverthe- 
less there was nothing which could be relied upon for a cure. 
The difficulty was not so much to understand the disease as 
it was to reach it by any adequate method of treatment. 
This was owing to the nature of the attack, and the peculiar 
condition of the mare. 

Plainly the disease was inflammation of the uterus, or 
womb, involving the organs of production generally, and, in 
Bome instances, the kidnej^s and bladder also. The intense 
heat of the parts could be readily felt in the rectum ; the 
uterus was terribly swollen and inflamed, often producing 
prolapsus uteri (falling of the womb) ; and the hinder parts 
were dreadfully pufted out, making a most unsightly appear- 
ance. The eflects of the fever upon the urinary organs \vere 
clearly manifested by the highly-colored character of the 
discharges. Except in cases of blind staggers, and possibly 
a few others of rare occurrence, we have never known so 
high a pulse, frequently from sixty to seventy per minute. 

From examination and treatment of a large number of 
cases, we came to the conclusion that the trouble was prin- 
cipally caused by overfeeding with corn, and the plethoric 
condition of the mare. As spring came on, the time of 
change and shedding the hair, the pressure of the heavy foal 
upon the vessels, filled with the heated, turgid blood, so ob- 
structed circulation as to give rise to local fever and inflam- 
mation. We are convinced that this result was materially 
hastened by some peculiar epidemic influences prevalent 
during the years named. The disease was but little known 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, UPJNAEY ORGANS, ETC. 345 

before that period, and pretty general! j disappeared afterward. 
It was the most common in Middle and West Tennessee, 
and Northern Mississippi; and, so far as onr knowledge ex- 
tends, no disease characterized by the same symptoms has 
ever prevailed elsewhere than in those sections, and to a less 
degree in the territory contignous. But the periodic recur- 
rence of many epidemics is a fact so well established, that it 
would not be at all surprising if " colt founder," though per- 
haps under another name, should again invade the stock- 
raising districts of the South-west at some future time, and 
hence we deem it best to detail in full the 

TREATMENT. 

This we shall give as practiced under our directions in nu- 
merous cases. When fairly carried out it will save four or 
five mares out of every six. It was attended with a greater 
measure of success than rewarded any other which ever came 
within our observation. 

Bleeding was apparent!}- indicated by the marked symp- 
toms of inflammation and fever, but copious bleeding was 
extremely apt to bring on an abortion, to cause the mare to 
cast her foal, and this led us to abandon the practice alto- 
gether, as unwarrantably hazardous. 

We next resorted to the use of counter-irritants, and found 
that the corrosive liniment, applied to the loins, produced an 
excellent eiFect. That compound, as a counter-irritant, is not 
excelled by any thing known to the profession. We invari- 
ably continued to employ the liniment in subsequent cases. 

The next step was direct medication — some prescription to 
act as a mild diuretic, more powerful remedies operating 
very badly. For this purpose we gave the following: One 
ounce of golden seal in a quart of water, which was then 
boiled well and etrained. To this were added two large 
table-spoonfuls of fine salt, and one ounce of spirits of niter. 
Three doses were thus made, and one of them was given cold 
each morning. 

Two or three times a day, as much as a pint of cold salt 



346 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

aud water, containing a slight admixture of spirits of niter, 
was injected into the vagina, and thrown well up toward the 
uterus. At the same time the clyster of salt and water was 
freely used in the ordinar}^ manner. We recommend the ad- 
dition of a small quantity of cream of tartar to the uterine 
clyster. In warm weather it had an excellent effect to turn 
bucketfals of cold water upon the loins. 

Chief among the obstacles to a cure was the extreme weak- 
ness of the hips. Once down, the sufferer could not get up; 
and lying out in the hot, scorching sun, the pre}' of a high, 
consuming fever, she was sure to die. Another great diffi- 
culty to be encountered was the almost entire loss of the use 
of the hind legs, the limbs becoming more and more numb 
and stiff the longer she lay upon the ground. It was indis-'t 
pensable, therefore, to build a shelter over her, and at the 
same time to raise her to a standing position, so that some 
exercise of the hind extremities could be obtained. 

We have seen dozens of the finest mares to be found on 
the farms in Middle Tennessee, where fine stock abounds, 
lying on the ground, as some of them had been for weeks, 
exposed to all the alternations of cold rains, chilling winds, 
and scorching suns which the season might bring, their 
bodies and legs nearlj' eaten up by those torments, the flies, 
and the ground beaten like a mill-path for yards, from the 
poor creatures dragging themselves along by the fore-legs 
and feet. How earnestly have we begged and plead with the 
owner to do something for the suffering animal ! But very 
often our appeals were met by " the penny-wise, poun'd-foolish," 
not to say most cruel, reply that he was too busy ; had too 
much else to attend to, aud the sooner she died the better.; 
Sometimes, however, the owners did set to work and raise | 
the patients to their feet, and generally succeeded in carry- 
ing them through safely. 

The modes of operation adopted in such cases, may bej 
easily explained. One was to set four posts in the ground, i 
about ten feet apart, and of about the same height, and 0U| 
the top of these to pin strong joists or timbers, the wholQi 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, UHINAKY ORGANS, ETC. 347 

then being covered witli planks or boards, so as to form a 
shelter from the sun and rain. The posts, well braced apart, 
served an excellent purpose for a sling, substantially the same 
as that represented by the illustration given in Chapter XXI. 
The ropes may be carried over the side pieces, and made fast 
either to them or to strong pins placed on the outside of 
them. 

But a quicker way of raising any horse to his feet> and 
that which was most practiced in the cases under considera- 
tion, consists in building a rail-pen around him. For this 
purpose, all that is needed, beside the rails, is three strong 
planks and live or six men. The planks should be not les£j 
than one and a half inches in thickness, and at least ten feet 
long, and they are to be put under the animal's body so that 
they shall project equally on each side. On the planks should 
be spread first some ha}" or straw, and then an old blanket or 
quilt, or some carpeting, as a pad for the bod}^ to rest on. 
This required especial care in colt-founder, as the belly was 
very tender and sore. When this has been done, and plenty 
of rails are at hand, the preparations are complete. There 
should now be one man for each plank, another to handle the 
rails, and two to stand at the animal's head and hold him 
' still by the bridle. Let the ends of the planks be raised on 
i one side, and a rail laid under them, about one foot from the 
! ends of the planks, the rail being so placed that they shall 
' be about the middle of it. Then raise the other ends of the 
I planks in the same way. End rails can now be laid on, so 
I as to be ready to raise the planks again. In this way, as the 
I pen is gradually built up, the horse is raised along with it. 
1 When part way up, it is very likely that he may struggle 
I considerably, the position in that stage being novel and some- 
' what uncomfortable; but he must be held by the bridle as 
J still as the two men at the head can hold him, and the pen 
i raised to its proper height as soon as possible. This height, 
I of course, should be such that the feet will touch the ground, 
and may be rested upon, if the horse is disposed to do so. 
) The rails of the pen must be carried up still higher in front 



348 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

and behind, and placed close to the hip and breast, so as to 
prevent the animal from surging back and forth on the 
planks. Lastly, heavy pieces of timber may be placed on 
tlie pen, in front and behind, to hold it firmly, and strong 
stakes driven down at each corner of the pen, vs^hich, by these 
means, will be so w^ell secured that no movement will be pos- 
sible. The horse may be hitched by a halter to a post in 
front, and some planks being laid on the rails at the same 
place, a platform will be formed on which a feeding-box may 
be placed. 

Such a piece of work will cost the owner perhaps ten dol- 
lars, and consume one day of his time ; but, besides saving 
the horse's life, it will be worth fifty dollars in the practical 
experience gained. The contrivance may be applied in a 
variety' of cases, which most of the farmers destitute of the 
enterprise necessary for so simple a task, would give up as 
hopeless from the outset. In cases of broken legs, for ex- 
ample, it can hardly fail to preserve the horse's usefulness 
unimpaired. 

But to return to the treatment of " colt founder," particu- 
larly. The mare having been raised by means of the rail- 
pen, a good shelter should be fixed over her, and if before 
foaling, preparations may be made for that event. In a ma- 
jority of cases, however, such extreme weakness does not 
occur until after the birth of the colt; and even though it 
should, if that period be very near, it may be best to defer 
raising the mare until after foaling. 

There being no longer any danger in regard to abortion, 
bleeding may be resorted to without fear, to abate the in- 
flammation. The food should be very light, soft, and relax- 
ing. Green grass should be cut and placed in the feeding- 
box, and quantities of sulphur and resin should be given. If 
there is great costiveness, so that the dung is hard, dry, and 
black, two or three doses of "jimson" seed will be the proper 
remedy. On no account, however, is this to be given until 
after foaling, as its use before that time is dangerous. 

If the animal is in the stable instead of out in the field, 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, UEINARY ORGANS, ETC. 349 

ill! the operations we have here described may be carried out 
there. 

DISEASES OF YOUNG COLTS. 

Perhaps we can find no more appropriate connection than 
this in which to consider certain diseases that sometimes 
attack the young colt. They were especially prevalent in 
the stock-raising districts of Tennessee during the same 
period that colt founder was so common there — from 1850 
to 1857. In these cases, the colt, sickening in a few days 
after foaling, was apt to prove but a short-lived addition to 
the farmer's stock. The mule colt shared equally with the 
horse colt in the mortality. 

These diseases are of two distinct classes: first, those of 
the bowels, which include both costiveness and looseness; 
second, those of the urinary organs, which were suppression, 
increased flow, and bloody urine. Suppression of the urine 
is sometimes caused by mechanical obstructions, as w>ll be 
mentioned when we speak of the treatment ; but, with that 
rare exception, the origin of all these troubles may be traced 
to the condition of the mother at the time of foaling, and, 
pubsequentlj^- for the quality of the milk which the youngster 
begins life upon is to him a matter of vital consequence. 

We have before noticed the highly injurious results which 
follow the use of such feed as the unsound corn and mold}' 
fodder that constitute a great part of the diet of thousands 
of horses at the South. It is a matter that involves the 
causes of big head, blind staggers, all manner of digestive 
and urinary disturbances, and we know not how many evils 
besides; but the dire category would be singularly incom- 
plete if these complaints of the young colt were left out 
of it. 

It is impossible for the mother, fed on such substances, not 
to impart her unhealthy condition to the colt. It does not 
always follow, however, that each wiH have precisely the 
same disease as the other, and much less in the same degree. 
The rule can scarcely be carried further than that if the 



350 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

mother is iinhealtliy, the offspring will be unhealthy also. 
Each may have disorders that the other entirely escapes. 

But corn, though the best grown, is not the feed for a 
mare suckling a young colt. It is too strong and heating, 
and forms a quality of food not suited to the needs of the 
foal. So, although the mother remains in scarcely impaired 
health, he may be the victim of obstinate costiveness. Or the 
most troublesome scours. The difficulty would have no ex- 
istence had the mare been fed on proper diet, and judiciously 
cared for in all other respects. The case is the same in re- 
gard to the other class of affections. Although the urinary 
organs of the mare may suffer to some extent, the superior 
strength of her system enables her to bear up against the 
unhealthy influence, and may even enable her to throw them 
off almost entirely; yet the tender colt succumbs more readily, 
aud suddenly the owner discovers that the young animal is 
very ill, and suffering acutel}'. Stricture, suppression, diabetes, 
bloody urine, are the various developments of disease having 
one uniform origin. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment will prove difficult, as it is very dangerous 
to give medicine to the young colt, and he may be seriously 
injured, if not killed outright, by injudicious drenching. In 
this case, all the medication attempted should be through the 
milk of the mother, and the clyster alone given the colt. If 
the bowels are constipated, an aperient given the mother 
will affect the colt nearly as quickly as it does her. In this 
case, give the colt a clyster of salt and water, as warm as he 
can bear it, with a small quantity of aloes added ; or some 
warm soap-suds may be used for the same purpose. 

In " scours," as it is called, neither through the mother's 
milk nor to the colt will it answer to give much astringent 
medicine. A little of the blackberry-root tea may be ad- 
ministered to the mare. As a clyster for the colt, it will be 
best to use fifty drops of laudanum, with one-fourth of an 
ounce of Epsom salts, dissolved in water ; or a little salt and 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 351 

water, cold, with a slight infusion of golden seal, and a 
table-spoonful of finely-pulverized charcoal. If an astrin- 
gent medicine be given the colt, some mild aperient should 
accompany it, or extreme costiveness, with fever, will be the 
result. 

The urinary difficulties of the colt arc not so readily man- 
aged. When there is suppression of the urine, examine the 
parts to see that the trouble does not arise from mechanical 
causes. In a few cases, the outlet at the end of the penis 
will be found sealed, perhaps, so that no urine can possibly 
force a passage. If this is caused by a scabby incrustation, 
wash off" the part thoroughly, and there will be relief at once. 
If there appears a skinny covering over the outlet of the 
urethra, cut an orifice through it with the point of a sharp 
knife. Stricture of the neck of the bladder from inflamma- 
tion is the only other cause of suppressed urine that can be 
positively indicated in regard to the colt, as we have no 
knowledge whether his kidneys are diseased or not. In 
treating this, it will tend to relax the parts to apply hot salt 
and water to the outside, and to inject some of it into the 
rectum; and, at the same time, half an ounce of spirits of 
niter may be given to the mother each day, in some warm 
water. 

Bloody urine in the colt we have found to prove fatal, 
almost invariably, from the fever and inflammation that was 
set up. We recommend bathing with hot salt and water; a 
clyster of the same, except that it should be cold, and some 
spirits of niter given the mother. 

Perhaps all these cases of disease might be remedied, and 
generally prevented, by proper attention to diet during the 
time that the mare is with foal, and afterward until the 
period of weaning. For the benefit of the young colt, the 
food of the mare should be changed at once. If he is costive, 
give her relaxing food, such as bran — preferably, rye bran — 
or, still better, green, succulent grass. If he has the scours, 
feed her on good light hay, and clean, pure oats. Here, as 
every-where else, the rule is, a dry diet for scours, and a 



352 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

moist one for costiveness. Whether for derangemeut of the 
bowels or of the urinary organs in the colt, give as much 
sulphur and resin as the mare will eat. In cases of bloody 
urine, if the colt has fever, bleed the mare, and that will be 
equivalent to bleeding the foal. 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD. ETC. 



353 



CHAPTER XV. 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 



The accompanying cut is, of course, imaginary, but it ad- 
mirably conveys to the mind, through the eye, the general 
plan of the circulation as it exists in man and all the higher 
types of animals. Both the general and 
the pulmonary circulations are here rep- 
resented. It will well repay the reader 
not thoroughly familiar with at least the 
outlines of anatomy and physiology, to 
turn back to Chapter II, and carefully go 
over the sections on the blood-vessels and 
the heart, in connection with this illus- 
tration. By this means he may perma- 
nently fix in his memory some of the most 
important facts and principles, that are 
taught in the entire range of the two 
sciences referred to. 




PLAN 01" THE CIECTTLATION. 

The arrows indicate the direction in wliich the blood flows in the different 
vessels. Those of the latter, which convey the pure or arterialized blood, are 
indicated by the absence of all shading; and those which convey impure or 
venous blood are represented by heavy shading. 

A, Capillaries on the general surface in all parts of the body, forming the in- 

tricate net-work of minute vessels by which the veins and arteries 
are connected. 

B, One of the vena cavge, which are the two great veins through which all the 

venous blood in the body is finally returned to the right auricle of 
the heart. 

C, The right auricle, from which the venous blood passes into the right ven- 

tricle. 

D, The right ventricle, from which the venous blood passes into the pulmonary 

artery. 

E, The pulmonary artery, which carries the still impure or venous blood to 

the lungs. 

F, The capillaries of the lungs, spread out over the immense extent of surface 

23 



354 AMEEICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

aflforded by the air-cells. In these the blood is purified, by the pro- 
cesses of dccarbonization and oxygenizaiion. They unite and form the 
pulmonary veins, one of which is indicated in the cut, near the up- 
permost of the downward-pointing arrows, but is not lettered. 

G, The left auricle of the heart, which receives the now purified, or arterial- 
ized, blood from the pulmonary veins, and from which it passes to the 
left ventricle. 

J7, The left ventricle, the contraction of whose powerful walls forces the blood 
out through the aorta and the successive subdivisions of the arteries 
to all parts of the system. 

/, The aorta posterior, dividing and subdividing into smaller arteries, which 
finally unite with the capillai'ies at A, where begins once more the 
venous circulation. The aorta posterior is the great artery which 
supplies the abdomen and all the hind extremities with blood. The 
latter is now freighted with nutrition extracted in the intestines 
fi-om the food, and conveyed into the general circulation through the 
thoracic duct (not shown in the cut) and the anterior vena cava. 

J^ The trunk of the aorta anterior, the great artery which supplies the con- 
tents of the thorax, or chest, and all the fore extremities, etc., with 
the pure and nutritious blood. It ramifies and terminates in the 
same manner as the aorta posterior. 

DISEASES OF THE HEAKT. 

The causes and symptoms of this entire class of diseases 
are very obscure. Perhaps hypertrophy , or enlargement of 
the heart, is the most common aflection. A Mr. Thomson, 
of Bath, England, several years ago, contributed to veterinary 
science the history of a singular case, in which the heart be- 
came " a large disorganized mass, weighing thirty-four 
pounds." Other cases have been reported much nearer 
home ; but hardly any thing seems to be known respecting 
the disease, beyond its simple existence. Of course the pro- 
cess of growth must be going on for some time before it kills 
the horse ; yet there are no certain means by which the exist- 
ence of such a condition can be detected. If the action of 
the heart be seriously obstructed, the animal must die at 
once, and a comparatively slight derangement would occasion 
acute suffering. In many, or perhaps nearly all, cases of 
death from this disease, the heart seems to have performed 
its usual functions, without noticeable disturbance, up to the 
very moment of its entirely ceasing to beat. 

In regard to any other disease of the heart, we must con- 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 355 

fess entire ignorance. Among the hundreds of horses that 
we have examined and dissected, we have never discovered 
any preternatural symptoms in the tissues of that organ. It 
is only fair to say, however, that these examijiations were di- 
rected to some other end than critically investigating the sub- 
ject of heart disease. 

Youatt enumerates eight different diseases of this class, and 
attempts to give specific symptoms in each case. But we 
see no essential differences in his descriptions of them, save 
merely in their verbal arrangement. lie makes no pretensions 
to giving any remedy for them. Hardly any other recognized 
authority makes an}^ mention of the horse suffering from 
heart disease 

Although it is quite reasonable to suppose that so vital a 
part of the animal's organism may be the seat of various 
disorders, it will be of no consequence to the farmer to spend 
much time in considering the subject, unless some remedy 
can be suggested ; and as this is be^'ond our power, we may 
as well dismiss the whole matter and pass on to something 
else. 

THUMPS. 

This is a not uncommon disease in many sections, having 
its origin, not in the heart, yet very near it, in the pulmonary 
artery. (See E, in preceding cut.) It is a cartilaginous en- 
largement of the walls of that vessel, so that the channel be- 
comes diminished in size, and can not pass the same quantities 
of blood that it does in its healthful state. When it is con- 
sidered that every drop of blood in the entire circulation is 
propelled through this main duct, on its passage from the 
right ventricle of the heart to the lungs, there to be arteri- 
alized or purified, it becomes apparent, at once, that any 
obstruction of the pulmonary artery must cause serious dis- 
turbance in the heart, whose contractions are the power that 
forces the blood along this channel. 

The pulmonary artery, like every other in the body, is 
composed of three distinct coatings — the outer, or perito- 
neal ; the middle or muscular; and the inner, or serous. Its 



356 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

walls are very elastic and flexible when in their natural oi 
healthy state, and expand, to some extent, at every pulsa- 
tion. But it so happens that they sometimes become grown 
together and hardened, in which condition they do not ad- 
mit the flow of blood so freely as before. Ordinarily, no 
disturbance is noticeable from this change in the coatings 
of the artery. The duct still appears to be sufiiciently large 
for the passage of the blood, until the horse is severely exer- 
cised, or otherwise excited ; and then the blood courses 
through its channels with such increased rapidity that the 
diminished capacity of the pulmonary artery is found to be 
a serious trouble. The vessel does not respond to the grow- 
ing demands upon it by the heart. The blood now begins 
to accumulate in the heart, compelling that organ to put on 
extra labor to urge it forward through the unyielding artery; 
and this labored action of the heart often becomes so great 
that the other arterial channels sympathize with it, and a 
general throbbing of the internal viscera is the consequence. 
This throbbing may be plainly seen upon the sides and flanks, 
and hence the appropriate, though homely, name, thumps. 
"When the excitement passes off*, and the blood becomes cooled, 
and the system tranquilized, these throbbings subside again. 

Thumps affects some horses much more than it does others 
having the same difficulty, probably from the pulmonary 
artery being. more constricted in such cases. Occasionally it 
kills the horse. The whole heart sympathizes with, and par- 
takes of, the disease of the artery, and inflammation is set 
up, or stricture of the artery takes place. In the latter event, 
the blood is suddenly stopped, and the horse falls down dead. 

We were once driving a very large, fleshy mare, in a buggy, 
upon the turnpike leading from Pulaski to Columbia, Ten- 
nessee. The day was excessively hot. When about mid- 
way between the two places the mare had an extremely 
severe attack of this distressing complaint. So violent were 
the thumpings, that it seemed as if her very sides would be 
torn asunder. We were compelled not only to stop and rest, 
but to unhitch her from the buggy. Such terrible throb- 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 357 

bings, amounting almost to convulsions of the sides, we never 
saw elsewhere. Prospects were very fair for staying there 
the remainder of the day, until a fortunate idea suggested 
the simple but admirable remedy which will presently be 
prescribed under the head of Treatment. Eight quarts of 
water, from one of the many cold lime-stone springs of this 
region, with a handful of salt stirred in, were given her, and 
greedily drunk. In thirty minutes all was as tranquil with 
the animal as if nothing had happened, and we went slowly 
on our way rejoicing. 

In about a year from that time, this mare died very sud- 
denly, as we afterward learned, undoubtedly from the dis- 
eased condition of the pulmonary artery. She had been 
subject to these spells of thumps for a number of j^ears 
previous. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment can not be expected to prove really cura- 
tive ; the changed structure of the arterial walls can not be 
corrected by the skill of man; but relief raaj' readily be 
given in an attack of thumps. Bleeding will accomplish this 
almost instantly, by lessening the flow of the blood ; but it 
must be an extreme case, indeed, in which this can become 
necessary. It is to be tried only as a last resort. 

Any thing given the horse to cool his blood will cause the 
thumps to subside. Ice-water, with a little salt in it, just 
enough to make it palatable, as well as to prevent it from 
bringing on an attack of colic, will give relief in a few min- 
utes. This is recommended as the best and safest treatment. 
It is astonishing with what avidity a horse in this condition 
will drink the cold water, and that, too, with a pretty good 
sprinkling of salt in it. All that he will swallow can do him 
no harm. If the ice- water can not be procured, the coldest 
water that can be will answer very well. The cessation of 
the thumpings is only a question of time, in nearly all cases, 
and sometimes an hour or two of rest in the shade will set 
every thing to rights again. 

Blue stone, dissolved in spirits, has often not merely given 



358 AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

relief from a severe attack, but has seemed to abate the 
symptoms of the disease for a considerable time afterward. 
The best prescription of this sort is the following: Two 
ounces of blue stone, the same of asafoetida, and the same of 
" jimson " seed — all to be pulverized, and then put into one 
pint of good spirits. Divide this into six doses, and give one 
each day in a pint of warm w^ater. 

We have seen hundreds of cases of thumps at the South, 
and have treated a considerable number. We have bled in 
some instances, but of these cases only two or three do we 
now think needed bleeding. 

SCROFULA. 

Before passing on to an examination of the causes and 
phenomena of fever, or inflammation of the blood, we wash 
to consider briefly the question whether the horse is a scrof- 
ulous animal. 

We know" that the body of the hog is filled with scrofulous 
ulcers. They are found in his liver, lungs, mesentery, pan- 
creas, diaphragm, intestines, and pleura ; on the heart, also, 
and on the w^alls of the ribs, the fat on the sides, and even 
on the legs. No hog, probably, lives or dies without having 
scrofulous ulcers and tubercles in some of these organs. Cat- 
tle are similarly aflfected, though in a much less degree. 
Tubercles have been found in both the liver and lungs of 
the kine. Sheep are scrofulous, and decidedly more so than 
cattle. Of other animals, we have no positive knowledge, 
but there are indications which lead us to believe that many 
of them, at least, have been made subject to the same taint. 
Is the horse a scrofulous animal? We believe that he is. 
What mean those ulcers on the liver, those tubercles in the 
lungs, those tumors in the glands, if such is not the case? 

In hogs, sheep, cattle, and horses tubercles and ulcers oc- 
cur in precisely the same localities as those which exhibit 
scrofulous ulcers in the human being. The lungs and the 
glands of all these are found, on examination, to have the 
same structure and functions. The aflfections of the class we 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 359 

are consideriog appear the same in all of them, being erup- 
tive in the glands, consumptive in the lungs, and ulcerous la 
the liver and bowels. 

" Man hath no preeminence over a beast ; as the one dieth, 
BO dieth the other." May not this have reference, not merely 
to the manner, but to a universal cause of death — something 
to which all flesh and blood are subject ? "We are well aware 
that this is delicate ground for the pathologist, yet have long 
entertained the opinion that the whole animal creation was, 
to some extent, affected with the virus of scrofula, insidiously 
diffusing its poison and scattering the seeds of disease uni- 
versally. The horse we believe to present indications of a 
decidedly scrofulous character; hence the benefit of altera- 
tives, by which, in connection with bleeding when the symp- 
toms warrant it, the blood may be purified, its subtle poisons 
neutralized or destroyed, and its qualities changed, so as to 
make it fit for the support of a healthy and vigorous life. 

"^e have often recommended to the reader's favor the 
'•jimson" seed of the farmer, the datura stramordi of the 
schools, and here desire to repeat the statement that, in our 
judgment, no other alterative which the veterinarian can 
give will produce equally beneficial results. It is invaluable 
in farcy, distemper, hide-bound, mange, surfeit, stiff com- 
plaint, big head, and numerous other diseases. It greatly 
assists the digestive process, changes the character of all the 
secretions, eliminates the offensive matter from them, and 
gives tone to the entire system. The dose is one table-spoon- 
ful, or half an ounce of seed, given every other day, in the 
horse's feed. 

FEYEE, OE rsTLAM MA TIOy OF THE BLOOD. 

The blood is not to be regarded as the seat or fountain of 
disease; yet there is hardly an ill to which horse-flesh is sub- 
ject that does not afiect it to a greater or less extent. It is 
itself first filled with the vims of disease, which it then car- 
ries to all parts of the frame. 

Fevei is an inflamed condition of the blood, which has be- 



360 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

come overheated by local or general irritation in the system. 
Some part is cut, bruised, or injured in some way; some lesion 
of muscles, tendon, or membrane has taken place; some 
bone is broken or nerve impaired ; some dreadful exposure 
to cold has made the whole body sore; in some way, and 
from some cause or other, a certain organ or part has re- 
ceived injury, so that it is weaker, more frail than the others. 
It sufiers increasingly from this injury, and becomes more 
sore ; irritation and heat are here augmented, and fever arises. 
The most familiar sources of heat are combustion and fric- 
tion. Animal heat is principall}^ evolved by a process essen- 
tially the same as the former, while it is the latter which 
generates fever. Fever heat is the result of the friction of 
the blood, surcharged with the heat from the injured and, 
presently, inflamed part. It is not that the blood heats the 
part, or even itself, but that the inflamed and heated part 
heats and inflames the blood. 

It is a principle laid down in Chapter I of this work, 
among the important facts to be remembered in treating dis- 
eases of the horse, that nearly all disorders of both man and 
beast, whatever may have been the primary or external 
causes, proceed from obstruction and derangement of the cir- 
culatory and secretive functions. Such obstructions are nearly 
or quite always caused by injuries of some kind. These may 
be local or general, but wherever they produce obstruction, 
there will heat and fever be found. 

The shoulder is sprained or bruised, and a tumor arises, 
marked by swelling and great heat. From whence comes 
this increased amount of heat? Certainly not from the blood. 
Had not the part been injured, the blood would have kept 
on flowing, as it had been doing from the moment of birth, 
without the development of any extra heat. This must 
clearly have its origin in the obstruction. Some of the 
blood-vessels and many of the little capillaries have been in- 
jured, or perhaps even broken, and their contents are now 
discharged into the surrounding tissues. Here begins ob- 
struction, interruption of the circulation. 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 361 

If any one asks, But what causes the heat? we answer, 
friction of the circulation in the injured part. The flesh has 
been crushed and mangled, and, when Nature endeavors to 
force the current of circulation through these disjointed, 
broken channels, there is an extra amount of friction, and 
extra heat is the result. Even the flow of water through a 
pipe abounding with angles is attended by an appreciable 
rise m its temperature. In the animal system not only are 
analogous causes now in operation, but there is increased mus- 
cular contraction to overcome these impediments to circula- 
tion, and muscular exertion is always accompanied by the 
evolution of heat. 

If the circulation could be either suspended or carried for- 
ward regularly, there would be pain, but no extra heat. 
When a little abnormal heat is generated, its influence upon 
the neighboring secretions and circulation is like the burning 
of the wick in the lamp. In accordance with the same phys- 
ical law by which the oil rushes to the consuming flame do 
the blood and watery secretions move toward the injured, 
heated part; and, as the tendency of the flame is to ignite 
all the combustible material surrounding it, and would do so 
unless prevented, so the heat of the injured part spreads and 
increases until the whole system is involved and on flre with 
fever heat. It is like the burning of dry wood — a little flame 
and a little heat at flrst, but how soon is the whole pile on 
fire! — a small beginning, a little heat in the injured parts 
at first, but how soon it spreads through every portion of the 
frame ! 

This we believe to be the true theory of fever. The blood 
is not the generator of heat, but simply the conductor of it 
from the burning fountain at the injured spot to all other re- 
gions through which the blood ramifies. 

Now, what are the plain, logical inferences from all this? 
Two principal ones are all, perhaps, that practically concern 
the farmer. The first is, to prevent the fire from burning at all, 
if this be possible; to allow it no start whatever; to protect 
the house from sparks and fire-brands. Let there be no oc- 



362 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

casion, whicli prudence and foresight can guard against, for 
fever and heat to arise. Adopt for the habitual rule of ac- 
tion the old and homely, yet most excellent adage, that " an 
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ." Forestall 
disease, and no encounter with it need be anticipated. In 
this department there is great room for improvement on the 
part of our farmers. It should receive a greater share of 
thought and investigation. Its intelligent study, and a uni- 
form practice in harmony with its laws, would well repay 
every man who has any thing at all to do with the care of 
stock. 

If the minds of those having the charge of horses could 
be aroused to the fact that three-fourths of the ills which 
befall overworked and ill-treated horse-flesh in civilized com- 
munities was due to neglect and mismanagement — to expos- 
ures, deprivations, and abuses — what a vast aggregate of 
suffering might be prevented, and how great pecuniary ad- 
vantages might be secured ! Our farmers should be reading 
men, thinking men — men of intelligence and broad culture. 
They should be reformers of abuses and instructors of igno- 
rance; and even if they were men of science it would not do 
them a grain of harm. They should seek to learn the best 
systems of management, and practice those only. They 
should study the laws of health and e\'ery thing pertaining 
to the sanitary condition of their noble servant, the horse, 
and make their treatment of him conform to the knowledge 
thus acquired. When this becomes the case generally, in- 
stead of exceptionally, as at present, the horse will be freed 
from disease to an extent that probably Ccw would now 
deem credible. 

That man who is ignorant of the physiological require- 
ments of his horse, and of the pathology and treatment of 
the animal's diseases, is to be pitied when liis horse is taken 
ill. He is in the predicament of a man whose house is on 
fire, and he trying to put out the flames. Poor fellow ! his 
is a difficult task. Better, a thousand times better, that he 
had never allowed the fire to get under way at all — had pre- 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 36-3 

vented it altogether. How many a farmer and horseman 
there is in the land who never knows when his horse is on 
fire with fever and disease until the case becomes utterly des- 
perate, if not hopeless, and who has not the remotest idea of 
how to manage to prevent the attacks of disease which are 
always lying in wait to avenge any enforced violation of 
Natare's laws by his poor, dumb servitor. When the horse 
of such a man is taken ill, the symptoms of the case are 
pretty sure t(^ argue to the better-informed observer careless- 
ness and neglect, if not downright cruelty, on the part of 
the owners. 

The second inference to be drawn from the facts laid down 
in expounding what we consider the true theorj- of fever is, 
that if disease should make its appearance, it should be at- 
tacked at once, and vigorously. ]^o time ought to be lost. 
The first stages — the development of the earliest symptoms — 
indicates the period for beginning energetic and intelligent 
treatment. As in the case of the fire, so it is here — a little 
blaze may be put out with trifling exertion, but if this be 
neglected, a conflagration may ensue beyond the power of 
hundreds to arrest. Thousands of horses — and, for that 
matter, thousands of people — die yearly that might be saved 
if treatment was soon enough begun. 

TREATMENT. 

The successful treatment of fever embraces three distinct 
considerations — the organ or part diseased ; the blood, which 
spreads universally the influences arising in the diseased 
part; and the capillaries and pores. From the first of these 
it is our opinion that all fever proceeds. We may not always 
be able to find the aftected organ; but it exists, and upon 
our success in finding it greatly depends our chances for 
curing the fever. For the many failures to cure fever two 
principal causes may be assigned ; namely, ignorance in re- 
spect to the primary location of the disease — the part where 
the prevailing fever and heat have their origin — and igno- 
rance of the proper remedy after the nature of the disorder 



364 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

is fully understood. Oftener than otherwise, the trouble lies 
in the former. 

An effort to free the blood from fever, while there is a 
fountain somewhere in the system pouring out its influences 
of heat and inflammation, will prove fruitless in the end. 
All such treatment must necessarily fail ; the fountain must 
be dried up, or the stream will continue still to flow\ We 
may ameliorate symptoms, but until the cause of disease is 
discovered and removed, there can be no permanent cure. 

"We have, therefore, no specific treatment for fever, nor 
any directions, save those which are given in connection 
with the disease of which the fever is the symptom and de- 
velopment. In general terms, alteratives are of great benefit 
as both preventive and corrective of a diseased condition of 
the blood. Some of them accomplish wonders in aiding the 
vital forces to resume their full, free, and healthy action. 
JSText to the "jimson seed" — even better than that in some 
diseases — we must give the highest excellence among all al- 
teratives to the sulphur and resin compound, so often pre- 
scribed in the preceding pages of our work. It acts some- 
what slowly, but always surely, and can do no harm, no 
matter in what quantities the horse will eat it. 

But it often occurs that the horse's blood is in such a state, 
and the whole system of absorbents rendered so inactive, that 
alteratives can not be thrown into the circulation with suffi- 
cient rapidity to produce the desired effects; and here fre- 
quently arises the necessity for bleeding. Before considering 
this subject, however, let us inquire what changes disease 
may work in the blood, and what that state of the blood is 
in which bleeding becomes proper. 

THICK BLOOD. 

This is a condition of the blood often found in venesec- 
tion. The blood is so thick that it scarcely runs at all for 
some time, though the large vein of the neck — the jugular — 
has been opened with a broad-shouldered fleam or a large 



DISEASES OF THE HEAKT AND BLOOD, ETC. 365 

lancet, and the neck has been corded. Such a thickeninsf 
of the blood is due to the influence of fever. It has be- 
come sticky ; it moves sluggishly in the veins, and is no 
longer the life-sustaining, strength-giving fluid that Nature 
designed it to be. 

Such blood is very dark in color. In those diseases that 
involve the general system, it is astonishing how thick and 
dark the blood becomes. In cases of big head, for example, 
we have often found the blood of a tinge even deeper than 
a dark brown — in fact, almost black. 

This condition of the blood is attributable to fever, and is 
always a feature in fistula, distemper, glanders, farcy, chronic 
founder, hide-bound, mange, and in some of the diseases of 
the lungs. Its existence, with very rare exceptions, is indic- 
ative of the propriety of bleeding, and generally of its absolute 
necessity. 

THIN BLOOD. 

There are some diseases, producing little or no fever, that 
have a tendency to make the blood too thin and watery. 
Such are the " scours " that afi'ect many horses, diarrhea or 
dysentery, and other diseases that waste away the body by 
continued defluxions. Aflections of the urinary organs be- 
long to this class. Consumption, also, disorganizes the blood, 
making it thin and light. 

The blood, as was explained in Chapter II, is made up 
of coagulum, or clot, and serum, or watery fluid. In disorders 
of the kind we are now considering there is a deficiency of 
coagulum, which is the component that gives the blood its red 
color; and, from the excess of the thin, colorless serum, the 
blood becomes pale and watery. In such cases, the horse, 
instead of being bled, needs the most generous diet and treat- 
ment, in order that more and richer blood may be made and 
thrown into the feeble circulation. 

BLEEDING. 

Physicians, in treating the human subject, have almost 
dispensed with phlebotomy as unnecessary, and tending to 



366 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

deplete the system and weaken the vital energies. We do 
not care to dispute the correctness of their practice in this 
regard, but when the same theory is advanced in respect to 
the horse, we know that it is not applicable, A few pseudo- 
veterinarians have advocated it, we are well aware, and they 
have poured forth unnumbered vials of wrath, and subjected 
the people's English to no one knows what torture, in their 
denunciations of the "vile practice" of bleeding, as they are 
pleased to characterize it. One " modern horse doctor," in 
particular, claiming the benefits of an experience of nine 
years' practice in the vicinity of Boston, informs us that 
" the disease can, if curable, be cured without abstracting 
blood. In every disease Avhere bleeding has been resorted 
to, complete recovery has been protracted, and the animal 
manifested the debility by swollen legs and other unmistak- 
able evidences of derangement." His other argument is, 
•' Because the letting of blood impoverishes that which re- 
mains, and leads to other equally dangerous diseases as the 
one it was intended to cure." 

Now, all this is simplj' not so in relation to the horse ; and, 
in passing to its examination, we can not help remarking 
how little support this writer's theory is likely to derive from 
his own experiences as recorded by himself in the same 
volume. We believe that he has not told us of a single 
cure that he has eflected. He went to see several bad cases, 
it is true, but these all died ; and us for the others, one can 
hardly help being led to believe that they died also, or else 
that, if they got well, they would have done so just as soon 
without his assistance. His work either entirely ignores 
or contains gross inaccuracies concerning some of the most 
dreadful maladies to which the horse is subject. While some 
diseases, and they among the worst known, he barely men- 
tions, for others he has prescribed as many as twenty-two 
or even twenty-eight different ingredients in compounding 
a remedy. Some of his preparations it requires fourteen or 
fifteen days to make ready for use ! 

With our own hands we have bled five hundred horses and 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 367 

mules, and in no case found any of the evil .consequences to 
follow that are indicated in the quotations above given. 
Thousands of animals have been bled for big head alone, to 
our certain knowledge; and we know that neither the "mod- 
ern horse doctor" nor any one else can cure that disease 
without a resort to the "vile practice." There are other 
complaints in whose treatment it is equally indispensable. 

Bleeding, if judiciously performed, does not necessarily 
"impoverish the remaining blood." In nearlj^ all cases where 
bleeding is pro[)er, the blood is already impoverished by dis- 
ease, and, if it were not so, the horse would bo well. It is 
thick, dark, and greatly deiicient in the nutrition which the 
system requires for its support and growth. To say that 
the horse would be better off without any of it in his veins 
would be pushing the argument to an absurd extreme; but 
the statement is Avithin perfectly reasonable bounds that it 
has become only the vehicle of disease and deterioration to 
the different tissues of the body. 

But this is not the only or the cliief difficulty. The capil- 
laries — those little channels M'hich ultimately convey the nu- 
trition imparted by the food to the entire organism of the 
body — have become obstructed, and perhaps closed, by this 
very same condition of the blood ; and muscles, tendons, 
membranes, bones, skin — all parts of the frame, in fact — are 
suffering and wasting away. There must be a removal of 
the cause if the results would be altered. The blood must 
be changed and purilied ; new and better blood must be sub- 
stituted for that which is impure and impoverishing. 

How is the blood to be operated upon when it is in this 
state ? AYhatever is done now must be done quickly. The 
whole system is fearfully disturbed, and, unless the natural 
functions are restored to their healthful action speedily, the 
animal must die. Will medication do this? Rarely, indeed. 
The medicine may distend the stomach to its utmost capacity, 
and the blood scarcely be influenced by it. In this condition 
of the blood, communication with the alimentary canal, 
whence it receives all its supplies, is closed to an alarming 



368 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

extent, so that neither food nor medicine is taken up by the 
lacteal absorbents in nearly the quantities that they would 
be if the body was in health. 

It is folly, then, to lay such stress on that flimsy web of 
argument, the impoverishment of the blood by bleeding. 
The blood is already impoverished, disorganizing, decaying, 
and the sooner it can be replaced by what is new and health- 
ful the better. 

This leads us to another and very important consideration ; 
namely, the certainty and swiftness with which bleeding re- 
laxes the system — in numerous cases doing at once what 
medicines will not do in time to save life. As consequences 
of this relaxation, the absorbents of the bowels are opened, 
and the secretions throughout the body are eliminated more 
nearly as in health. 

In respect to bleeding, it will not do to consider the case 
of the horse exactly analogous to that of the human being. 
Although the physical organisms of man and of the horse 
are so much alike, there exist some marked diversities when 
we come to the minute applications of hygienic laws. All 
medicines do not have precisely the same effect upon both 
of them. Some which act with great severity upon the horse 
are almost inert upon the human subject ; while others that 
are poisonous to the latter are mild and gentle, or quite in- 
operative, when given to the horse. Our liniments are ex- 
amples of the first. They produce comparatively little effect 
upon the skin of the person handling them, while they act 
most powerfully upon that of the horse. Of the second class, 
the datura stramonii is a remarkable specimen. Although it 
is a rank poison to man, a gallon of it would not hurt the horse. 
We have known him to almost live on it for two months, in 
that time eating bushels of the leaves and buds. 

IN'ot a few cases of bleeding have we witnessed in our time 
from the human subject, but have never known such blood 
to be drawn as we have seen flowing from the jugular vein of 
the horse — thick, sticky, and almost black. From him we 
have abstracted, we might almost say, hogsheads of blood, 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 369 

and rarely, indeed, without witnessing marked and speedy 
improvement afterward. The object of bleeding is to relieve 
the circulation of impure, diseased blood, and to relax the 
system generally ; and, in this condition, medicines may be 
administered to some purpose. Its tendency is not to debili- 
tate in those cases where the horse's system is already pros- 
trated, or greatly deranged by disease of such character as to 
render bleeding proper. For example, we have taken a horse 
with big head, time and again, when he was so stiff* and 
weak that he could not get up without help, and, in a very 
few days after bleeding, have seen him rise to his feet by 
his own strength, and continue to grow stronger and stronger 
until quite well. 

Some persons have a zeal without knowledge, and, in their 
haste to assume the character of reformers, do not stop to 
weigh facts with due care, or to test new theories by actual 
experience. We are as much in favor of improvement as 
any one else, but we want it to be in the right direction. 'No 
arbitrary views should be clung to in the face of an over- 
whelming array of facts upon the other side of the question, 
simply because they constitute the distinctive policy of one's 
self or of any other person whatsoever. We would gladly 
dispense with the trouble of bleeding, if it were not necessary 
for the cure of the diseased horse. The system of blood- 
letting was undoubtedly abused in former times, but that is 
no argument against its practice on the proper occasions. 
Those occasions are not seldom, or difficult to distinguish. 
Many of the horse's diseases it is impossible to reach effect- 
ively in any olher way. 

Our views upon this point are in harmony with those of 
the best talent whom this subject has ever engaged. We 
are in excellent company in this respect, in support of which 
position let us quote the opinion of that unsurpassed au 
thority in veterinary science, William Youatt, than whose 
judgment, in this important matter, no man's is worth 
more : 

" If inflammation consists of an increased flow of blood to 
24 



370 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

and througli the part, the ready way to abate it is to lesseii 
the quantity of blood. If we take away the fuel, the fire 
will go out. All other means are comparatively unimportant, 
contrasted with bleeding. * ^ * It is a principle in the 
animal frame which should never be lost sight of by the vet- 
erinary surgeon or the horseman, that if by bleeding the 
process of inflammation can once be checked — if it can be 
suspended but for a little while — although it may return, it 
is never with the same degree of violence, and, in many 
cases, it is got rid of entirely. Hence the necessity of bleed- 
ing early, and bleeding largely, in inflammation of the lungs, 
or of the bowels, or of the brain, or of any important organ. 
Many horses are lost for want or insufliciency of bleeding; 
but we never knew one materially injured by the most copious 
extraction of blood in the early stage of acute inflammation. 
The horse will bear, and with advantage, the loss of an almost 
incredible quantity of blood. Four quarts taken from him 
will be comparatively little more than one pound taken from 
the human being. "We can scarcely conceive of a consider- 
able inflammation of any part of the horse, whether proceed- 
ing from sprains, contusions, or any other cause in which 
bleeding; local (if possible), or general, or both, will not be 
of essential service." 

As before stated, it is not necessary to bleed in all diseases. 
The operation is to be resorted to only in cases of acute in- 
flammation and old chronic complaints. To prevent mis- 
takes, we give the following rule : If, when the vein is 
opened, the blood flows freely from the first and looks red, 
with but a slightly dark tinge, close the vein at once — the 
horse does not need blood-letting. Never bleed to improve 
condition, but only to attack disease. If your horse is sick, 
you can seldom go amiss to bleed him, unless his disorder 
belongs to the class referred to a few pages back, that waste 
the system away by constant defluxions. "We only recom- 
mend bleeding in cases where experience has taught us its 
necessity, where the blood is in a diseased, disorganizing con- 
dition, and free communication between it and the alimen- 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, EIC. 371 

tary canal — its source of nutrition — is in great degree or en- 
tirely suspended. 

The amount of blood to be taken at any one time will de- 
pend upon the violence of the attack, or the length of time 
which the disease has been running. It will be very seldom 
that the practitioner will find it judicious to take more than 
four quarts at a single bleeding, and from this the quantity 
will diminish down to a quart, in case of extreme weakness 
or a mild attack. In sudden attacks of inflammation, copi- 
ous bleeding will be necessary only once, as a general rule. 
In chronic or constitutional diseases, it may be necessary to 
bleed oftener, but not so much should be taken at one time. 
Big head, hide-bound, mange, fistula, chronic founder, and 
some other disorders, make the blood very black, and here 
the stream should be kept running until its color changes to 
a healthy venous color — somewhat darker than arterial blood, 
but still a beautiful red. In cases of lock-jaw and blind 
staggers, the vein must be kept open until the pulse falters, the 
knees begin to tremble, and the horse commences to blow. 

The proper j)?rtce to bleed is in the neck vein — the jugular 
vein, as its proper name is — about two inches down the neck, 
from where the two branches of the vessels unite. It is a 
little below the point indicated at t in the cut at the begin 
ning of the next section. 

We will now describe the manner of bleeding in the way that 
most horsemen will practice it, not being supplied with a lancet, 
which is a matter of no consequence. The operation is so 
simple that no farmer, or intelligent lad who is intrusted with 
the care of a team, need have any fears about undertaking it, 
if his mind has once been conclusively made up in relation 
to its necessity. A small, hard cord should be drawn tightly 
around the neck, about six inches below the place where the 
incision is to be made, and, as soon as the neck fills out, 
smooth the hair with the moistened finger, so that it may lie 
close and straight with the vein. Then have some one to 
hold the horse ; cover the eye on the side whence the blood 
is to be drawn, or, if the operator is alone, the horse may be 



372 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

blindfolded. Now lay the fleam lengthwise the vein, holding 
it in the left hand, and resting it exactly on the center ot 
the vessel, and, with a hard piece of wood in the right hand, 
strike the fleam with sufficient force to cut into the vein. 
The piece of wood used for this purpose should be about a 
foot long, and an inch or more in thickness. The blow given 
with it must not be so violent as to cut through the inner 
wall of the vein. Such an accident has sometimes occurred, 
and is apt to result in inflammation of the parts, and the 
formation of an abscess back of the vein, which will prove 
exceedingly difiicult to remove. The incision should be 
large, so as to secure the abstraction of the requisite amount 
of blood in the shortest time possible ; hence the advantages 
of using a broad-shouldered fleam. After enough blood has 
been drawn, remove the cord from the neck, and the blood 
will cease to flow. ]^ow bring the edges of the cut together, 
and put a quite small pin through the skin, so as to hold them 
thus ; then tie some of the tail hairs, wet in the blood, under 
the pin, drawing them tightly, and let the whole remain in 
this condition for twenty-four hours. The pin should then 
be removed, and the sear afterward wet with spittle occa- 
sionally. 

The few remaining directions which may properly be laid 
down concerning bleeding, we give in the language of Youatt: 

" When the bleeding is to be repeated, if more than three 
or four hours have elapsed, it will be better to make a fresh 
incision rather than to open the old wound. Few directions 
are necessary for the use of the lancet. They who are com- 
petent to operate with it will scarcely require any. If the 
point is sufficiently sharp, the lancet can scarcely be too 
broad-shouldered ; and an abscess lancet will generally make 
a freer incision than that in common use. Whatever instru- 
ment is adopted, too much care can not be taken to have it 
perfectly clean, and very sharp. It should be carefully wiped 
and dried immediately after the operation, otherwise, in a 
very short tim3, the edges will begin to be corroded." 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 373 



THE PULSE. 




The cut admirably shows the muscles, nerves, and blood- 
vessels of the head and the upper part of the neck. We 
have reserved it to introduce here, in order to point out the 
location of the pulse so plainly that no one can be at a loss 
where to look for it. It will be easily found in the living 
subject, at the point here indicated by ic. Down to p, inclu- 
Bive, the lettering below relates to the muscles. 



a The upper part of the ligament of the neck — the whitleather. 

b The levator humeri (elevator of the shoulder), arising from the tubercle of 
the occiput, the mastoid (uipple-shaped) process of the temporal bone, 
and the transverse processes (cross projections) of the first four 
bones of the neck, and the ligament of the neck, and going to the 
muscles of the shoulders and the upper bone of the arm : to draw 
forward the shoulder and arm, or turn the head and neck ; and, 
when the two levators act, to depress the head. 

c The tendon common to the complezus major (larger complicated), and splenitu 
(splint-like) ; to the mastoid process of the temporal bone, to hold up 
the head, or, the muscles on one side alone acting, to turn it. 

d The sierno-maxiUaris (belonging to the breast-bone) and upper jaw, from the 
cartilage in front of the chest to the angle of the lower jaw; to bend 
the head, or, if only one acts, to bend it on one side. 

e The stylo-maxillaris, from the styloid (pencil-shaped) or coracoid (beak- 
shaped) process of the occiput, to the angles of the jaw : to pull the 
jaw backward and open it. 



374 AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

/ The subscapulo hyoideus, from under the shoulder-blade, to the body «f the 
OS hyoides (the bone at the root of the tongue formed like a Greek 
M, v) : to draw back that bone. 

g The masseter (chewing) ; a most powerful muscle, constituting the cheek of 
the horse: from the upper jaw bone into the rough surface round 
the angle of the lower: in conjunction with the temporal muscle to 
close the mouth and chew the food. 

h The orbicularis (circular) suiTounding the eye and closing the lids. 

i The zygomaticus, from the zygomatic arch and masseter to the corner of the 
mouth, to draw back the angle of the mouth. 

k The buccinator (trumpeter), from the inside of the mouth and cheeks, to 
the angle of the mouth, to draw it back. 

I The vasalis labii superioris (belonging to the nose and upper lip), from a de- 
pi-ession at the junction of the superior maxillary and malar bones, 
to the angle of the nostril: to raise the lip and dilate the nostrils. 

m Dilator naris lateralis (side dilator of the nostril), reversed to show the ves- 
sels and nerves which it covers, going from the covering of the na- 
sal and frontal bones, to the angle of the mouth, and side of the nos- 
tril ; to retract the upper lip and dilate the nostrils. 

n Dilator magnus (great dilator), assisting in the same office. 

Depressor labii inferioris (puller down of the under lip), to the sides of tha 
under lip; to pull it down. 

p Orbicularis oris (circular muscle of the mouth), surrounding the mouth : tc 
close the lips and dilate the nostrils. 

q The upper portion of the parotid gland (gland near the ear) reversed, to 
show the blood vessels and nerves beneath it. 

r The parotid duct piercing the cheek, to discharge the saliva into the mouth. 

s The maxillary gland (gland of the lower jaw), with its duct. 

t The jugular (neck) vein, after the two branches have united. 

u At this letter, the submaxillary artery, a branch of the jugular, and the 
parotid duct, pass under and within the angle of the lower jaw; 
they come out again at w, and climb up the cheek to be distributed 
over the face. 

V The vein and artery, passing under the zygomatic arch. 

X A branch of the fifth pair, the sensitive nerve of the face, emerging from 
under the parotid gland. 

y The main branch of the poriio dura (hard portion) of the seventh pair, the 
motor (moving) nerve of the face coming out from beneath the paro- 
tid gland, to spread over the face. 

z Branches of both nerves, with small blood-vessels. 

The condition of the pulse is a consideration of the utmost 
importance to the veterinary practitioner. In most diseases 
lie has no other means equally good of determining the actual 
state of his patient's system, and there is nothing which will 
guide him so well in forming his opinion in regard to the ne- 
cessity for bleeding. As was remarked in the proper section 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 875 

of Chapter II, the beats of the pulse simply indicate so many 
impulsions of the blood from the heart. Now, there can be 
no considerable excitement of the system, whether from ex- 
ercise, intense emotion, or disease, without causing a corre- 
spondingly increased action of the heart. This is indexed by 
the pulse, and thus the presence of disease is readily detected, 
and its course traced throughout all its developments. 

The pulse may be discovered and counted in several places 
on the horse's body, but nowhere else is it so easily found 
as upon the underside of the lower jaw-bone, at the point 
indicated in our description of the foregoing cut. Here the 
submaxillary artery passes over the edge of the bone, and 
feels like a small cord under the skin. By pressing the 
fingers upon it steadily, the pulsations may be felt pushing 
their way along at the rate of about thirty-five per minute 
in the farmer's horse, although some fine breeds average as 
much as forty, or even more, when in perfect health. This 
is what writers refer to when they speak of the standard 
•pulse. The great advantage of resorting to the submaxillary 
artery to find the pulse is this: that here pressure upon the 
hard bone beneath enables one to determine, not merely the 
rapidity of the pulse, but also its strength and other charac- 
teristics. 

Fifty beats to the minute, when the horse is not laboring 
under muscular or nervous agitation, constitutes a decidedly 
diseased pulse, and seventy or eighty betrays a most fearful 
state of excitement. Such is the case in blind stag-orers, for 
instance. As high a pulse as one hundred to the minute is 
recorded by English veterinarians ; but the farm horse of 
this country rarely shows one above eighty, which is quite 
sufficient to soon wear out his vital energies. In inflamma- 
tion of the lungs or bowels, seventy per minute is about the 
maximum attained in the great majority of cases. 

In health the pulsations are slow and soft, making an im- 
pression, truly, that is readily recognized when the pressuie 
of the finger is applied, but not hard and tense by any means. 
But as fever and inflammation come on, the vein becomes 



376 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

more turgid; the blood is more heated; the action of the 
heart is heightened, and the pulse increases in proportion.. 
It is sometimes the case that the blood is thick when there 
is but very little fever; but the amount of the latter is al- 
ways indicated by the quickness of the pulse. Tlie quick, 
throbbing pulse speaks of inflammation somewhere; the hard, 
corded pulse, of some chronic or long-standing disease. 
Sometimes we find the pulse to present both of these con- 
ditions simultaneously, and then the case is an alarming one, 
calling for prompt and vigorous measures, or death will 
probably forestall further efforts. 

Besides the terms employed above, there are others in gen- 
eral use among horsemen, to distinguish the various kinds 
of pulsations recognizable under the influences of disease. 
The hard pulse is that in which the beats evidence powerful, 
perhaps even violent, over-action of the heart, but without 
much disturbance of the circulation otherwise. In the wiry 
pulse, they appear small as to volume, but hard and jerking, 
indicating great irritability in the region of the heart, so 
that the ventricles contract too soon, before they are properly 
filled. Danger does not lurk behind this, but advances with 
it boldly, defiantly, and with rapid strides indeed. It be- 
tokens acute inflammation, especially of tlie bowels, or some- 
times of the urinary organs. The oppressed pulse exists when 
the arteries are too full, overloaded with blood thrown out 
from the heart, but returning to it with difiiculty. There is 
obstruction somewhere, such that even the immensely power- 
ful contractions of the muscular walls of the heart can hardly 
force the sluggish current through the blood-vessels. In- 
flammation of the lungs, a sudden and violent attack of 
pneumonia, is generally the cause of this phenomenon. In 
this case bleeding, if not carried to excess, will actually in- 
crease the strength of the pulsations instead of weakening 
them. It will be the proper recourse in all the conditions 
of the pulse thus far enumerated. 

Not so, however, in the case of the xueak pulse; for here 
there is debility and exhaustion, xnd the heart acts but feebly, 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 377 

while the blood is poor and thin, as well as deficient in quan- 
tity. Such a pulse accompanies all diseases that tend to 
prostrate the system, and at other times may indicate the 
rery near approach of death. Depletion means murder here. 
Stimulants, tonics, are what the patient needs, to arouse and 
assist the flagging life-energies to proper action. 

Some persons bleed for every ailment, and others for none 
at all. There must be discrimination in this as in every 
thing else. When the horse is well, it is absolute folly and 
cruelty to bleed. Let well enough alone. But when the 
veins are turgid with blood, and the pulse, under the stim- 
ulus of fever and inflammation, is hard, wiry, or oppressed, 
the practioner who endeavors to cure the horse by means 
of medication only will generally find himself a fool for his 
pains. 

For the more convenient reference of the reader, we wiU 
here recapitulate the various states of the pulse in disease, 
with the general indications of each concerning bleeding : 

Quick throbbing pulse — inflammation : bleed freely. 

Hard pulse — feverish excitement: bleed freely. 

Full, corded pulse — chronic or long-standing disease : bleed 
moderately two or three times, ten days apart. 

Small, wiry pulse — usually inflammation of the bowels: 
bleed copiously. 

Oppressed pulse — usually inflammation of the lungs : bleed 
freely. 

Weak pulse — debility : do not bleed at all. 

Several things are to be taken into account in making up 
one's mind as to the frequency of the pulse, such as the 
horse's temperament, blood, customary employment, etc. 
Especially should the fact be inquired into whether the ani- 
mal is overheated or much agitated by fear, as by these cir- 
cumstances the pulse will be increased as much as from eight 
to twelve beats per minute. Fear, indeed, will occasion 
greater excitement, in this respect, than even exercise. In 
judging of the pulse, then, the horse should be as nearly 
tranquil as possible. It will be best to note its beats two or 



378 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

three times, at least, before forming a final opinion concern- 
ing them. 

THE MODES OP GIVING MEDICINE. 

This will be the proper place for considering the different 
methods of administering medicine to the horse, which are 
four in number, as follows: Drenching, in the feed, the pill, 
and the clyster. 

DRENCHING. 

Drenching is the most common mode among the masses 
of horsemen, and generally the most successful ; yet it is 
not without a share of danger to the patient. Many horses 
have been occasioned much suffering, some permanently in- 
jured, and a few even killed, by careiessjiess in administering 
drenches ; especially in filling the mouth so rapidly that the 
liquid could not be swallowed fast enough, and portions of 
it being forced into the trachea, or windpipe. Strangulation 
and a severe coughing spell are the least serious consequences 
of this occirrrence; or, perhaps, a cough may be induced that 
will prove obstinate and unyielding for a long time. 

All this may be easily avoided. Enough of the drench 
should be turned into the mouth to nearly fill it, but no more 
until the horse has swallowed this, as he can readily do. He 
may sometimes refuse to swallow until he is compelled to do 
80, by lifting the nose up and down, so as to move the mus- 
cles of the throat; or, quite eflectually, by pulling the mouth 
open with the hands. In extreme cases, where the horse proves 
utterly intractable, the drench may be turned into the nos- 
tril ; but this, being still more dangci-ous than drenching in 
the mouth, should not be resorted to except in cases of entire 
failure by the other method, and where the disease is of such a 
character as to admit of no delay. If a small quantity, about 
half a gill, of the liquid be turned into the left nostril, it 
will run into the throat. Should the horse strangle, drop his 
head at once, and do not attempt to repeat the operation; 
for, while in most horses the drench will pass through the 
nostril into the throat without injury, there are others in 



DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD, ETC. 379 

which this can not be done. If the first dose passes safely, 
the operation may be repeated at intervals of a minute or so, 
until the drench is all given. In all cases let the head drop 
after swallowing, before turning any thing more into the 
mouth or nostril, so that the animal may readjust the palate, 
which is apt to be cramped by raising the head too high. 
Upon the latter point care should always be exercised, the 
head being raised only just enough to allow the drench to 
run into the throat. Here is where much of the danger at- 
tendant upon drenching arises. When the head is too much 
elevated, the glottis may be forced open, permitting the liquid 
to run into the trachea, or windpipe. 

Giving the drench is a simple operation, with most horses, 
at least. The best method is by using a long-necked bottle, 
holding about a quart. Fill the bottle with the drench, al- 
ways warm if it can be made so, and insert the neck of the 
bottle into the mouth, upon the right side of it, and just in 
front of the jaw teeth, or grinders. Stand in an elevated 
position ; for instance, upon a bench or box. Lift the head 
carefully with the left hand, and, with the bottle in the right, 
turn out a gill into the horse's mouth and throat. If he 
swallows it, as he will be likel}' to do, drop his head, and 
let him work his jaws and the muscles of his throat for a 
minute or so. In this manner continue until the whole 
drench is disposed of. 

A few simple directions in regard to preparing the drench 
may be of value to some. The liquid must contain no pow- 
ders, lump, or sediment of any kind ; for these may cause 
strangulation, and do serious injury. "When any medicine 
is to be administered that is in powder or lumps, give it in 
some other way, and not in a drench. The great advantage 
of drenching consists in the greater rapidity with which rem- 
edies act than when given in any other way. The pill is a 
much easier method of medication, but the drench will usually 
have done its work before the pill is dissolved. 



380 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



THE PILL. 

This constitutes a more safe and expeditious method of 
giving medicine than drenching, and in cases of chronic dis- 
eases, and all others that can wait upon slow action, it is to 
be given the decided preference. The medicine may be mixed 
with some flour and water, and the whole rolled into a pill 
about an inch in thickness and an inch and a half in length. 
Put this on the end of a stick, pull out the horse's tongue 
carefully, place the pill on the roots of that organ, if neces- 
sary pushing it back gently with the stick. Now let the 
tongue fly back suddenly, and the horse will be compelled to 
swallow the dose. Care must be taken not to injure the 
throat with the stick. A person with a small hand may in- 
troduce the pill with the ends of the fingers better than with 
the stick. 

IN THE FEED. 

This is the style of medicating which horsemen prefer, as 
it is attended with no danger and but little trouble. But 
there are a great many medicines which can not be given in 
this way ; and, at any rate, it is only applicable to those cases 
where speedy action is no especial object. Another difficulty 
arises from the fact that many horses refuse to take medicine 
thus. Hunger, however, will generally bring the animal to 
it; but if he manifests an unusual aversion to the food, it will 
be better to give the remedy in the form of a pill rather than 
starve him long. In fact some medicines are so exceed- 
ingly distasteful, that with them it will be of no use to try 
any thing but the pill. 

Some skill is desirable in disguising the medicine in the 
feed. It may be put at the bottom of some meal, or only a 
little given at first, until the horse has learned to eat it with 
less disrelish. Whatever is given in this way should be re- 
duced to a fine powder, and mixed with such feed as bran or 
meal mashes, cut feed, or oats." 



DISEASES OF THE HEAKT AND BLOOD, ETC. 381 



THE CLYSTER. 

The clyster is a liquid medicine, injected into the rectum 
of the horse by the aid of a syringe, or some other means. 
It is not designed to supersede any of the other methods of 
giving medicine, but to act in conjunction with them, espe- 
cially in cases of extreme costiveness or stricture. In colic, 
inflammation of the bowels, lock-jaw, or any other disease in 
which the bowels are obstinately closed, it is a valuable as- 
sistant in hastening evacuations. In all cases where an active 
purge is needed, and at once, the aperient medicine given 
into the stomach can be much expedited in its action by a 
simultaneous use of the clyster. It is also of great service in 
checking diarrhea, or "scours." Finally, in several diseases — 
lock-jaw, for example — nutrition may be introduced into the 
system in the same way, in sufficient quantities to prolong 
life for a considerable period. 

The best and easiest means of administering a clvster is 
with a regular syringe, with the appendix of a gum-elastic 
tube. If this be not procurable, the operator may substitute 
a cow's horn, open at both ends, or a gourd with a long 
handle, of which the small end had been cut off. When the 
latter is used, the clyster medicine may be turned into the 
bowl of the gourd, the small end having lirst been inserted 
within the rectum ; and, on elevating the bowl, the contents 
will pass out at the other end. Tliis is a very convenient 
mode. A tube made of leather, and covered with old mus- 
lin, or some similar fabric, will answer the same purpose. 
Whatever is employed should have a smooth surface, and be 
well greased, so as not to injure or irritate the rectum. 

An aperient ball may be made by mixing the clyster med- 
icine in some flour and water, and then pushing this into the 
rectum with the hand, as far as the arm can reach. Being 
placed between the ends of the fingers, and the hand and 
arm well greased, it can be thrust forward eighteen or twenty 
inches. Food-balls may be given to the horse in the same 
way in cases of stricture, inflammation of the bowels, lock- 



382 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

i:iAv, nnd tlio liko, in whioli oitlun- mitritiou can not be iutro- 
Jiu'Oil into tlio titomaoh nt all, or it is hazardous to do so. 

AVe subjoiu a list ofsonio of the clysters that may he given 
the horse in ditlerent eases, with the ingredients of eaeh. 
In all eases, we prefer the elyster in sohition to the ball, 
with the exception of the food-ball, whieh is nntloubtedly a 
better means of giving t'ood to the horse than the solution : 

Apenent Cli/shrs. — Solution of Aloes 4 dr. 

Solutiou of Kpsoui salts.... 8 oz. 

Solution of assafotida ^ oz. 

Lard 1 pint. 

Tnrpontiuo (in a pint of warm 

wator) 1 tablo-spoouful. 

Cooling Cli/stcrs. — Solution of f'psom salts 4 oz. 

Salt and water 1 pint. 

Slippery elm muoilaiio ^ pint. 

Astringcut Cli/sU-n. — Laudanum (in a pint oC \v;irm water). 1 oz. 
Blackberry root tea (in a pint oi' warm 

wator) 1 gill. 

Nutrition C^i/stcrs. — Meal gruel (wartn") 1 quart. 

Slippery-elm mueilage (thiekened 

with mean 1 pint. 

Arrowroot (thiekened with meal)... 1 pint. 

Sweet milk (thiekened with flour).. 1 pint. 

Eaeh of the above is to be used separately as a clyster. 
The practitioner must exercise his own judgment in select- 
ing from each class that which will probably be most suc- 
cessful in the particular case he has in hand. 

The aperient and food balls may be composed of the ma- 
terials indicated iu their respective classes, with the addition 
of flour. The ball should be about three inches in thickness. 



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384 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

owner will entirely ignore in liis veterinary practice, and upon 
no consideration whatever will he be induced to have any 
thing: to do with them. There is no need to resort to the 
use of such poisons in any case, for there is an abundance of 
other medicines to select from which are equally or nearly 
efficient, and attended with no dangerous consequences. 

It is not often that the horse is poisoned internally, except 
as before adverted to — by the careless or ignorant use of 
certain articles administered as medicines. Natural instinct 
teaches him to avoid most of the poisonous herbs that com- 
monly grow in the pasture-fields, where he seldom receives 
any injury of this kind, unless it be occasionally from the 
poisonous weeds and vines with which his nose may come 
in contact during grazing. Perhaps the chief danger of in- 
ternal poisoning to which the horse is exposed proceeds from 
the mean, dastardl}' mode which some cowards adopt to take 
revenge upon an enemy — that of destroying or ruining his 
horse. 

In 1866, we treated an aggravated case of this kind in 
Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky. A young horse, 
from motives of revenge which some miscreant entertained 
toward his owner, was poisoned by applying some villainous 
compound to the animal's nose, causing it to swell to three 
times its natural size, while great blisters came out all over 
the surface. The treatment was alternate washings with hot 
salt and water, and a strong decoction of golden seal, every 
four hours. This gave relief in a short time, and in a few 
days the horse was quite well. 

In many districts of the South and South-west, however, 
the stock-raiser has much more reason to dread the bites 
of venomous serpents, insects, etc., than any of the other 
sources of poisoning. 

The subjects of which we propose to treat in this chapter 
may be grouped under three different heads ; namely, inter- 
nal poisons, poisons of the skin, and animal poisons. The 
latter includes the bite of venomous snakes, and the sting 
of scorpions, poisonous insects, hornets, wasps, etc. 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 385 
INTERNAL POISONS. 

This, of course, is the class of poisons wliich communi- 
cate their liurtful influences through the medium of the 
Btomach and the lacteal absorbents of the intestines. Many 
of them prove deadly at once ; but these are all too well 
known to need any enlarging upon here. Our object is to 
warn against the employment of such as are slower in their 
action, and whose ill effects, in consequence, are more apt 
to be overlooked. 

Nux Vomica. — This is used extensively in many parts of 
the country as a purifier of the blood and a promoter of 
condition, but never without decided injury to the horse. 
It is a powerful poison, injuring the teeth, destroying the 
healthy tone of the stomach, impairing digestion, and pro- 
ducing general derangement of the bowels. For a time it 
may possibly appear to benefit the horse, and to abate dis- 
ease, yet its results are so uniformly disastrous in the end 
that it should never be given the animal as medicine. Be- 
sides being an unsafe remedy at all times, it is wholly unnec- 
essary, since the prescriptions laid down in this work will 
accomplish the desired ends more perfectly and without 
hazard. 

Among the symptoms of poisoning from this source are 
the following : The pulse is irregular; the mouth and tongue, 
white; the saliva, stringy; the membrane of the nose, a dull 
purple ; the eyes, a whitish yellow ; the breath, hot and fever- 
ish ; the skin likewise hot and dry, and the hair rough and 
standing. Not all of these are necessarily present in every 
case, but some of them always are ; and occasionally others, 
of a more alarming character, supervene, such as colic pains, 
retching of the stomach, excessive flow of highly-colored 
urine, etc. Spasms and convulsions may next ensue, and 
then death is not far off. 

The antidote, in this case, is grease. Give the horse a pint 
of sweet oil or lard, with six eggs broken into it, to hold the 
25 



886 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

poison in solutiou; then set to work to bring about an evacua 
tion of the bowels as soon as possible. Use the clyster 
fi-ecly — a quart of warm, strong soap-suds — and this re- 
peated every half hour until a discharge is secured. Fol- 
low the original dose of oil, in two hours, by a drench of 
strong salt and water, as hot as the horse can bear it. In 
this way the horse may usually be saved, even when the 
symptoms of poisioning were decided; but the owner will be 
exceedingly fortunate if he does not afterward iind the ani- 
mal's vigor noticeably impaired, or his future history show 
a strong tendency to colic. 

In 1851 we had under treatment a very bad case of fis- 
tula — that of a horse belonging to a gentleman named Fow- 
ler, living in Gibson County, Tennessee. The condition of 
the animal was low, and the blood in a very impure state. 
During our absence, and, of course, without our knowledge, 
the owner was prevailed upon to administer nux vomica for 
the purpose of cleansing the blood. Half a button per day 
was the dose, and of these nine had been given, when, upon 
the tenth day, the poor creature died — poisoned to death. 

Cantharides, or Spanish Flies. — This is a dreadful poison, 
of the strongest diuretic properties. It is unsafe given in 
how small quantities soever; and for this reason, notwith- 
standing that nearly all veterinary writers prescribe it, with 
more or less strenuous cautions, we must condemn it alto- 
gether. Given internally, it very often produces strangury 
and death ; and if these sad results do not follow, there will 
generally be found a permanently-diseased condition of the 
urinary organs, extending not unfrequently to the stomach 
and bowels also. Whether administered in large or small 
doses, it is hurtful in the extreme. Perhaps the large dose 
is really least objectionable, as it soon puts the victim out 
of his misery, while the small dose operates iu the way of a 
slow and lingering torture. One drachm given the horse 
will kill him in a very short time. 

" In the breeding season," says Youatt, " it is shamefully 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 387 

given as an excitement to the liorse and mare, and man}' a 
valuable life is lost by the abominable practice." This we 
indorse, and will go so much further as to say that the scamp 
who would be guilty of such a procedure ought to be sent 
to the penitentiary-. Strangely enough, this usually excel- 
lent and judicious veterinarian sitll prescribes the use of 
cantharides in small doses. AVe must express our astonish- 
ment that any respectable authority should recommend it in 
any ease; and our advice to the farmer is, have nothing to 
do with it, nor with the ignorant fellow who would bid you 
give it so much as a trial. As a blister, the corrosive lini- 
ment will accomplish all that cantharides can, and is prefer- 
able in every way. 

The symptoms of poison from this source are a hot breath, 
a rapid and irregular pulse, and colicky pains. Crampings, 
convulsions, and death complete the series. 

In regard to an antidote, it is difficult to prescribe. If 
your folly has been so great as to lead you to give your horse 
such abominable poison, you will probably have the poor sat- 
isfaction of seeing him die from its effects, and the consola- 
tion of knowing that this is work of your own doing. A 
pint of castor oil, to act upon the bowels as soon as possi- 
ble ; six fresh eggs, at the same time, to hold the poison in 
check ; and then a vigorous use of the warm soap-suds clys- 
ter, comprise all that can be done, except to make up the 
mind never to be caught in the like folly again. 

Copperas, or Sulphate of Iron. — This is another substance 
sometimes given the horse as a promoter of condition that 
is really very detrimental. It is highly injurious to both the 
stomach and the teeth, and should be thrown aside entirely 
in treating the diseases of the horse. 

In general terms, the sulphates, acetates, and nitrates of 
copper, lead, silver, and zinc are poisonous to the horse — 
sufiiciently so, at least, to condemn their administration as 
internal remedies, although many of them may be used with 
decided benefit in the forms of liniments and washes. There 



388 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

are three minerals of great service in medication, whose ju- 
dicious employment may be especially recommended. These 
are oxide of iron, calomel, and nitrate of potassium. 

Corrosive Sublimate. — This is a direful poison, of fearfully 
destructive eft'ects when introduced into the stomach ; but 
though so deadly a potion, it forms, with other ingredients, 
one of the most valuable liniments in the Avorld. It is the 
most powerful principle of the corrosive liniment, so often 
recommended in the previous chapters of this work. 

Acids. — ITone of these constitute a suitable medicine for 
the horse. They are the acetic, citric, muriatic, sulphuric, 
nitric, tartaric, oxalic, and prussic — all of which are to be 
rejected as injurious, and ^ome of them as most swift and 
deadly poisons. 

Alkalies. — Alkalies and their salts may all be used at times 
with decided advantage as correctors of an acid condition 
of the stomach, or as mild and safe diuretics. In this list 
of remedies, the nitrate of potassa (the niter, or saltpeter, of 
every-day life) stands high as a mild diuretic. It should be 
given only in small doses, and never except in clear cases of 
urinary disease. Common wood ashes is of exceeding value 
to the horse, and, when he is in the stable, the}^ should be 
given him as regularly as his salt, but in moderate quantities, 
of course. The tendency in the stomach of the horse is 
toward acidit}^ and fermentation. Acids aggravate this con- 
dition, and ruin the horse; alkalies correct the former, and 
relieve the animal. 

Creosote. — Given in large quantities, this is poisonous to the 
horse; but in doses of ten drops, in some warm water, it is 
very serviceable in both cramp and flatulent colic. 

Tobacco. — "The weed" is a poison, although many men 
seem never to suspect the fact. It is not to be used in- 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 389 

ternally in veterinary practice, except in cases of farcy, dis- 
temper, and glanders, where we prescribe it on the principle 
of employing one poison to neutralize and destroy another 
larking in the blood. 

Tar. — This substance is not a poison ; but it is not best to 
give it to the horse unless well mixed with grease, as, in its 
fresh state, it is apt to choke the animal, and has been known 
to form balls in the stomach that killed him. It has some 
valuable pectoral properties, when mixed with other ingredi- 
ents. The oil of tar should not be used. 

Turperdine. — Turpentine is an excellent constituent of ex- 
ternal applications, such as liniments, the best of which can 
hardly be made without using it to some extent. It is a 
rubefacient, (as those substances are called which produce 
redness of the skin,) and, opening the pores, it prepares the 
way for the other ingredients of the liniment to act ; but, 
given internally to the horse, it is poisonous to both the di- 
gestive and urinary organs. The oil of turpentine should 
not be used at all. The turpentine from the tree is better 
than either. 

Tartar Emetic. — This may be used advantageously, in small 
doses, to abate fevers, and is particuhirly valuable in inflam- 
mation of the lungs and all catarrhal affections. It is a 
powerful nauseant, and, in large quantities, has the effect of 
an active poison. In doses of from a drachm to a drachm 
and a half, wheu given in connection with niter and digitalis, 
it excites the secretions of the skin, acting as a powerful 
diaphoretic as w^ell as diuretic. In overdoses it is apt to do 
injury. As the horse can not vomit, it is safest to accom- 
pany tartar emetic with a small dose of salts. 

Croton Oil. — Great danger attends the use of crotou oil in 
veterinary practice. It is admissable only in very extreme 
eases of costiveness and stricture. Such is the rapidity and 



390 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

violence of its action, that it often does material injury before 
the bowels relax, having a strong tendency to produce rup- 
ture and death. The dose is from eight to ten drops, in 
some warm water ; but the instances are rare in which milder 
remedies will not serve a better purpose. 

As an external application, however, in all cases where an 
active liniment is needed, croton oil is quite valuable. It 
should be mixed with sweet oil, in the proportion of ten 
drops of croton oil to forty drops of the latter. Applied with 
a cloth or brush, and well rubbed in, this is a very efficient 
adjunct in the treatment of colic, inflammation of the lungs 
or bowels, sprains, cramps, nervous affections, etc. 

The antidote for an excessive dose of croton oil consists 
of a full dose — from one to two ounces — of laudanum, fol- 
lowed, in four hours, by half a pound of Epsom salts. 

Of the large number of vegetable poisons, there are very 
few which appear to be very injurious to the horse. It is a 
matter of extreme doubt, in fact, whether any vegetation 
grows in our country from which there can arise any danger 
of his being poisoned to death. We have often known him 
eat with impunity the leaves and buds of the " jimson" weed, 
and the ground and fence ivy of the meadows. Externally, 
these are poisons ; but taken into tlie stomach they do not 
harm the horse. We know of but two plants growing in 
America that he will ever eat which act as a poison to him. 
These are the poison-oak that grows upon dead trees and 
stumps, and the laurel growing upon the bluffs of creeks and 
rocky chasms. 

For these the following is the antidote: A pint of lard 
and half a pound of salts, to evacuate the bowels as soon as 
possible, followed, in two hours, by some lime or chalk water. 

Belladonna^ or Deadly Nightshade. — This is a deadly poison 
in its prepared form ; but the horse will not eat it when 
growing wild, as it does in the United States only in certain 
sections. It is a powerful narcotic and sedative, and, in 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 391 

small doses, is a valuable auxiliary in all cases of undue action 
of the nervous and vascular systems, especially in affections 
of the heart and lungs. The proper dose is five or six 
grains of the powdered leaves. Given in overdoses, it has 
sometimes been the cause of death. 

White Hellebore. — This is a virulent poison, very dangerous 
in the hands of those who are ignorant of its properties. In 
small doses, it may occasionally be used to advantage, but it 
is always to be administered with o'reat caution. It is a 
powerful cathartic, and very drastic. In diseases of the lungs, 
especially in inflammation, it acts with- great force upon the 
pulse, lowering it very rapidly. This proceeds from its pow- 
erful restraining influences upon the heart, whose throbbing 
will be stilled forever by a drachm or a drachm and a half 
of white hellebore. A half-drachm is a large dose, and one- 
fourth of a drachm is as much as can be given without some 
hazard. The practitioner should have recourse to this drug 
only in very extreme cases. 

The prominent symptoms of poisoning from this cause are 
three : a rapid sinking of the pulse, hanging of the head, and 
frothing at the mouth. 

The antidote is half a pint of Cayenne pepper tea, with 
half an ounce of laudanum, or a drachm and a half of 
opium, in it. 

Black Hellebore. — Like the white hellebore, this seldom 
grows in our meadows and pastures, and, both being very 
offensive to the horse, he is in little danger from either ; nor 
are they often used by our farmers. The black hellebore is 
not as poisonous as the white, but possesses no properties 
which can justify its use internally. As an external applica- 
tion, it has some valuable medicinal qualities, especially as a 
liniment for old sores, or certain fistular ulcers. For this pur- 
pose the thick syrup or extract should be taken and mixed 
with grease, by which means a very active ointment will be 
formed, of which but a small quantity need be used at once. 



392 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



POISONS OF THE SKIN. 

Corrosive Sublimate. — This is a very active, irritant poison, 
and is not to be tampered with, except as its use is indicated 
in this work. With certain other ingredients, enumerated 
in the proper section of Chapter XXIV, it forms the invahi- 
able corrosive liniment. 

May-apple Root. — This is a poison to the horse, and when 
given internally is one of the most drastic of medicines, after 
occasioning severe and almost uncontrollable purging. In 
this manner it should not be employed at all. As a liniment, 
however, prepared by combining lard with it, it possesses 
properties for curing fistula and poll-evil superior to any 
other known remedy. The uncombined extract is a ver}' 
active poison to the flesh of the horse, and must never be 
used. 

Poison Oak, or Running Sumach. — The creeping plant 
known by this name is most frequently found climbing old 
stumps of trees, piles of stones, and the like. Although the 
horse will eat this only occasionally, it often poisons his nose 
and ears, and sometimes his feet, when they happen to come 
into contact with it in grazing. It causes dreadful blisters 
and scabby eruptions. 

The treatment is as follows : "Wash with the tea of golden 
seal three or four times during the day, and at night rub in 
some old grease over the poisonous surface. In the morning 
wash off the grease with warm soap-suds, and apply the de- 
coction of golden seal again. Continue this course as long 
as may be necessary to heal. 

There are several other poisonous plants and vines com- 
mon in various parts of the country, such as the meadow ivy, 
the poison vine, the hemlock, the " sneeze-weed " of the South, 
and some others. The weed last named is a great pest of 
the pastures and woods of many portions of Middle Tennes- 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. " 303 

see, where many colts and horses are almost ruined by it 
during the months of August and September. 

The treatment for all external poisons of this class is that 
just prescribed for the poison oak — frequent washing with 
the decoction of yellow-root, or golden seal, with nightly 
anointments with grease. If, as sometimes happens in cases 
of severe poisoning, the legs swell and the joints become 
stiff, wash them repeatedly with hot salt and water, and rub 
them w^ell with the hand or a brush. 

ANIMAL POISONS. 

Snake Bites. — JSTature has populated the Western Continent 
with many varieties of serpents and poisonous insects. Some 
of the "Western and South-western States, especially those 
bordering upon the Mississippi River, are greatly infested 
with them. In West Tennessee, where we formerly resided — 
a land of thickets and underbrush — the rattlesnake abounds, 
and is often found in the yard, sometimes under the very 
door-step, and has been killed in the log out-houses and 
stables. Besides this venomous creature, there are others on 
all the tributaries of the great river ; and the whole country 
on the lower portion of the latter's course are tenanted not 
only with the rattlesnake, but also the spreading adder, the 
moccasin, the cotton-mouth, and the black and water vipers. 

It is not often that the horse is bitten by a snake, yet it 
sometimes occurs. Four or five cases are all that we eve'" 
met iu a practice at the South of nearly twenty years 
ISTearly all serpents give warning to any animal approaching 
them; and the horse, unless his hearing is impaired, never 
fails to take the alarm and flee from danger. Of those that 
are unquestionably poisonous, not all are equally so, the 
venom of some being much more active than that of others. 
Otherwise, the quality of the virus seems essentially the samt 
in each, and hence a uniform course of treatment is to be 
practiced for counteracting their effects. 

The common and most effectual antidote is large potations 
of proof whiskey — half a pint, every hour, in warm water, 



394 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Avitli a little Lartsliorn — and continued washing of the wound 
with hot salt and water. Half a pound of salt should be 
given the patient at the outset. This method will cure when 
the horse is first bitten ; but after great swellings have taken 
place, no remedy can be depended on. Extensive suppura- 
tion and gangrene will probably supervene, followed by de- 
rangement, blindness, convulsions, and death. 

If the bite is discovered immediately, the better plan 
would be to cut out the entire wound with a sharp knife, 
and appl}' some of the corrosive liniment ; or, in the absence 
of this, a very small quantity of pulverized sublimate; yet 
the internal treatment, as above prescribed, should not be 
neglected. By this means the virus will be effectually coun- 
teracted. A thimble pressed forcibly upon the wound, and 
bound fast, will often extract the poison and prevent swelling. 

Venoiijous Spiders. — Spiders abound in every part of the 
countrj^, but only a very few are poisonous, or ever bite. 
There is a species of black spider, with a small white spot 
upon the back, whose bite is nearly as deadl}^ as that of the 
rattlesnake. All of the large black spiders are more or less 
poisonous, and wnll sometimes resent pressure by biting; but 
none show such a viciousness as the one just referred to, ex- 
cept the terrible tarantula of the plains of Texas. This 
latter monster, whose body sometimes attains to a length of 
two inches, while his legs are twice that in length, will attack 
both man and beast, and only the most prompt and energetic 
treatment can save the victim's life. 

Horses are sufferers from these insects more frequently than 
is generally supposed. There is a swelling and soreness of 
the nose or legs, for instance, and the owner is apt to attrib- 
ute it uniformly to some contusion or strain, whe?i, in many 
cases, it is really caused by the sting of these detestable 
creatures. The proper course is to examine all such swellings, 
and see whether there is any appearance of a wound, ()r of a 
nucleus that is fuller and harder than the surrounding skin. 
If so, the case should be promptly treated as for poison. 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 395 

The treatment is as follows : Give half a pint of proof 
whisky in some warm water, with a tea-spoonful of harts- 
horn in it. "Wash the swelling with hot salt and water. If 
the horse has been bitten by one of these spiders, a running 
sore may bo the result, in which case the corrosive liniment 
should be applied ever}" day for two or three days, and will 
heal without fail. 

The Centipede. — This is a poisonous worjii found in Texas, 
where the people have corrupted the name to " Santa Fe." 
It principally infests old, rotten logs and dark, hidden places. 
Instead of possessing one hundred legs, as its name implies^ 
it has twenty-four, each of them pointed with a hollow thorn, 
out of which exudes the poison from a little bag at its root. 
The construction of these legs, in fact, is very much the same 
as that of the fangs in the serpent. These venomous crea- 
tures are not common, but very deadly. It is genendly be- 
lieved tliat their sting is necessarily fatal, death ensuing in a 
few minutes. Horses and cattle are often killed by them. 

We are of opinion, however, that life might probably be 
saved by the immediate use of proof spirits, both very freely 
as a drench and externally as a wash, mixed with equal parts 
of hartshorn. 

Stinging Scorpions. — These are strange creatures, inhabiting 
the same regions as the centipede. They are every-where, 
and infest every place — houses, stables, piles of plank and of 
wood, and almost qvqyj hole and crevice. They dart from 
their retreat with almost the swiftness of lightning, and, 
dropping upon some person or animal, seek to hide tmder 
the clothing or the thickest hair, and, if molested in any 
manner, are sure to sting whatever they may be upon. Their 
sting is not often fatal ; it is somewhat more severe than that 
of a wasp or hornet, and, although hurting but little at first, 
the pain becomes very acute in about half an hour afterward. 

The symptoms are very peculiar. The first sensation of 
pain is felt under the tongue, which organ remains nearly 



396 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

paralyzed for a considerable time. Swelling and heat pro- 
ceed from the region of the wound, w^ith the accompani- 
ments of nausea and giddiness. In the human being, these 
symptoms sometimes terminate fatally, but to what precise 
degree the sting affects the horse is not so well known. 
That it is poisonous and exceedingly painful to horses and 
cattle is undoubted; but as stock runs at large in that country 
of universal grass, opportunities to trace the effects of the 
sting in their cases have not been very favorable. 

In Texas, whisky is the antidote for all ills. When stung 
by the scorpion, the people have recourse to the beverage at 
once, using it bountifully both internally and externall}'-, and 
thus obtain relief in a short time. The treatment in the 
case of the horse will be of the same character. 

Hornets, Wasps, etc. — These do not often sting the "jiorse, 
and are never very hurtful, so that a simple prescription to 
relieve the pain wall be all that is necessary. The first thing 
to be done is to press the large end of a thimble around the 
sting, so as to make a deep indentation in the skin, and then 
to w^ash the place wnth onion-juice, or with hartshorn and 
oil, mixed in the proportions of three parts of hartshorn to 
one of oii. Hot salt and water is equal to any thing ever 
used as a wash after the sting of bees or wasps. 

In a few^ instances, the potato-fly or bug has poisoned the 
horse. For this, grease the surface affected, and in two hours 
wash off with soap-suds, and when dry apply the decoction 
of yellow-root or golden seal. Continue alternating with 
these applications until the horse is quite well. 

Gadflies, Gnats, etc. — This will be the proper connection 
in which to consider the ravages of certain insects not really 
poisonous, but more dreaded by the stock-raisers df the 
South-w^est than the reptiles, etc., that are. 

Tobacco-smoke will keep away gnats, gadflies, and mos- 
quitoes. Careen pennyroyal placed on the head, under the 
top of the bridle, will also drive them away; or they may 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 397 

be kept at bay by rubbing the body and legs with a handful 
of the green herb. Any of the essential oils rubbed on the 
parts which they especially infest will keep them away. 

Tliere is a species of large gnat, known as the " buffalo- 
gnat," about one-third as large as the common house-fly, 
that is a terror to the horse, mule, and deer of the regions 
in the vicinity of the large river swamps of the lower Mis- 
Bissippi, but which does not often trouble other animals. It 
makes its appearance on the first warm days of spring, and 
comes in swarnas of millions, which attack their victim with 
a murderous ferocity. They cover his side, flanks, belly, 
breast, head, and neck; the nostrils and ears are literally 
filled with them ; and, unless prevented, they will even crawl 
up into the nasal cavities, so as to fairly strangle the horse 
to death. It is not at all uncommon for them to kill both 
horses and mules. 

Perhaps fifty times, while riding through the regions 
named, have we been compelled to get a bush and brush 
away at the gnats, while the horse went at the top of his 
speed to the nearest house, there to receive a smearing of lard 
and tar, the only thing that would keep his insatiate tor- 
mentors at bay. 

In 1862, a regiment of Confederate cavalry encamped in 
Holmes County, Mississippi, near where the author was then 
residing. Thirty-five mules, belonging to the w^agon-train, 
were destroyed b}^ buti'alo-gnats in one night — a fact of 
which we had personal knowledge. 

Hunters often build large fires, and set old trees and 
stumps on fire, and the deer coming and standing in the 
smoke to get rid of the gnats are often shot down by the 
hunter from his ambush. In this way, numbers of unsus- 
pecting animals are sometimes killed. The deer all leave 
the swamps for the interior when the gnats are unusually 
tormenting. The buftalo-gnat never attacks the human being. 
The swarms in which it always moves come all at once, and go 
the same way. They remain usually about six weeks, and in 
oiie day's time will all be gone, so quick is their disappearance. 



398 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Eveiy negro on the cotton plantations of the infested dis 
tricts knows what to do when the gnats come, and there is 
not one of those plantations on which a bucket of tar and 
lard is not carried to the field, each morning, in the season 
for gnats, nor a horse or mule but is thoroughly smeared 
•with them. The mixture is composed of one part of tar to 
two parts of lard, and of this a very thin coat is spread upon 
those parts of the animal where the gnats light to suck 
his blood. Coal oil is very efficient in keeping the gnats at 
ba}', but its effects do not last like those of the tar mixture. 

I'he Borer-worm. — This is the larva, or maggot, of a hairy 
or wool}' fly that infests the plains of Texas, and is the ter- 
ror of the cattle and horses of the prairies, large numbers 
of whom the borer-worm destroys annually. Woe be to the 
unlucky cow or pony that has the misfortune to receive a 
cut or puncture, or a wound of an}' kind, sufficient to draw 
blood; for this liy is sure to be there, and to deposit its 
eggs within the wound. From that moment the animal is 
doomed. The worm is furnished with an augur-like fang, 
with which he penetrates into the flesh ; and this is the be- 
ginning of the borer-worm's bunch. 

The animals of the prairie all manifest an instinctive dread 
of these flies, and when the skin is cut or torn in any man- 
ner, so that blood flows from it, they appear to be aware of 
their danger. As the fly comes about, the alarmed creature 
starts to run away. This is the sure means of collecting 
hundreds of these flies, which dart with lightning-like veloc- 
ity upon the warm and oozing blood and deposit their eggs, 
and the work of destruction at once begins. The victim 
stops when completely tired out, and begins to exert himself 
to drive tliese terrible enemies away. Had he done so at 
flrst, perhaps his chances would have been better. But now 
the fearful work once commenced, the poor creature yields 
to his dreadful fate, and thousands upon thousands of mag- 
gots are soon busy within the wound. As the part inflames 
it swells to an enormous size, the worms', meanwhile, contin- 



POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 399 

uiug to bore deeper and deeper, and to imbed themselves 
lower down in the flesh. "While the first army of maggots 
is thus ravenously seeking for new flesh and fresh blood, the 
fly deposits new recruits, that soon follow the others in search 
of untasted tissues, on which to feast themselves. The skin 
forms a sack or bag to hold the perforated parts and keep 
them from sloughing off, and these parts become a fungous, 
spongy mass of inflamed and rotten flesh, whence constantly 
exudes a purulent, offensive matter, which constitutes the 
^ood of the fly and the home of the maggot, or borer- worm. 

The head and shoulders are the parts most frequently at- 
tacked, but no wounded member or surface escapes. The 
magnitude of the borer- worm bunch, and the quantities of 
these vampires that they often contain, are perfectly incred- 
ible. The bunch has been seen upon the horses, cattle, buf- 
falo, and deer, of all dimensions, from the size of a man's 
hand up to that of a bushel-basket, and has been found to 
contain not merely quarts, but absolutely bushels of the mag- 
got-worm Of course, death soon comes to the relief of the 
wretched animal, and mercifully puts an end to tortures in- 
conceivable. 

On the great plains of the West, the buffaloes, wild horses, 
and deer often fall a prey to the fearful rapacity of the borer- 
worm, bunches of which they have been seen carrying upon 
their bodies of such enormous bulk that no one could be- 
lieve the accounts given of them, unless his own eyes had 
seen them. Droves of wolves follow these poor animals 
night and day, hanging around them until they become so 
weak as to be unable longer to defend themselves, when 
they are devoured by the hungry pack. 

A writer in the " Waverly Magazine," a few years since, 
gave a most graphic, yet sickening, description of the rav- 
ages of the borer-worm, under the caption of the '• Maggoty 
Buffalo." The author of this work, when in Texas in 1851, 
saw cases of the kind above described, although none in their 
most advanced stages, and often heard the people of that 
region recount the horrible operations of this terrible scourge. 



400 AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

It was considered a certain death for the borer-fly to be 
gin depositing its eggs within any sore, unless the cattle 
were herded in pens, and the worms destroyed by the free 
use of turpentine ; and even this was not always effective. 
"When in the stable, the horse was not disturbed, and if he 
happened to be wounded in any manner, could be more 
easily caught and handled, and the injured surface readily 
protected from the fly until it healed. 

It was there conceded that turpentine was not a certain 
means of destroying the worm in all cases, and, to be suc- 
cessful, must be constantly and vigorously applied, the ani- 
mal being kept in a lot or pen for this purpose until entirely 
well. We believe that we have a remedy exactly adapted to 
meet the requirements of this case — one of which it needs 
but one or two free applications to reach the bottom of the 
deepest abscess, and one that is certain death to vermin of 
all kinds. This is the corrosive liniment. Cut open the 
bunch and expose the worms ; then pour into it a not stinted 
quantity of the liniment, which will surely kill the worm as 
soon as it touches him. 

The corrosive liniment possesses the peculiarity of great 
penetrating powers beyond all others we ever tried. Used I 
in the manner here laid down, it will be quickly carried to 
every part of the abscess, and prove the swift destruction of \ 
the horse's formidable enemy. Aside from its many other 
highly important applications in veterinary practice, it will 
be, in this respect alone, a boon of incalculable value to the 
stock-raisers of Texas and the great prairies of the South- 
west generally. 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 401 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 

"With this chapter we enter upon another division of our 
work — the consideration of the horse's food, treatment, and 
management generally. Here an interesting field of investi- 
gation opens before us, and one of primary importance to 
every owner of the horse. Possibly this department of our 
subject should have had the precedence of all others, since, 
upon a proper attention to and observance of the laws which 
we here find in uniform operation, depends entirely the ani- 
mal's health, and hardly less his good qualities. We are 
of the opinion that the matter of diet — its adaptation, espe- 
cially, to the varying ages and conditions of the horse and 
to the changing seasons of the year — has more to do with the 
improvement of blood and the development of fine qualities 
than any other consideration whatever. 

Many farmers say that they " have an unvarying rule in 
the treatment of their horses." Now, this is simply an 
avowal that they have adopted a course of most inconsistent 
and ruinous management — a course that at one season of the 
year will overfeed the horse and engorge his whole system, 
and at another will starve and impoverish him ; a course that 
may be advantageous so long as he remains in health, but 
detrimental in the extreme when disease begins its insidious 
approaches. 

The system of the horse varies in its capabilities, its con- 
ditions, and its needs as much as that of the human being. 
Some horses can live and thrive upon certain kinds of food 
that others can not eat without being greatly injured, and 
the condition of the same horse may vary so much that what 
is proper and healthful at one time ought to be absolutely 
26 



402 amer[(;an farmer's horse book. 

prohibited at another; or it may be that the horse, from 
the eflects of disease, can hardly be induced to eat any thing 
at all. There is a similar difterence in regard to the chang- 
ing seasons of the year. The farmer who pursues exactly 
the same system of feeding and treatment in the summer 
that ^.e did in the winter, will find his team becoming fat at 
one time and thin at another — lively at one time and stupid 
at another; now in fine condition, and then in bad plight 
and poor health. 

A difterence likewise exists between spring and fall, espe- 
cially the close of the latter, toward winter — between the 
shedding of the hair, which takes place in the former, and 
its increased warmth and thickness in the latter. The case 
is the same when we contrast the circumstances of work and 
rest, or of hard labor and mild exercise. A horse regularly 
and severely tasked needs more and stronger food than one 
which stands most of the time in the stable, being exercised 
but seldom, and then quite moderately. The food needful 
for the one will kill the other, or, at least, occasion serious 
disease. Many of the serious ailments of the horse arise 
from an unreasonable adherence to one certain system of 
keeping. Upon the farm, the animal works hard through 
the spring season, and until after harvest ; then a time of 
rest comes on, when he has but little or nothing to do ; and 
still the ignorant owner gives the same full, strong diet as 
ever. If such a horse does not fall oft* in flesh, his appear- 
rance of fattening is pretty sure to be attended by the influ- 
ence of some dire disease that is being generated in his 
system. 

Then the horse in low condition requires a different keep- 
ing from the one in fine plight and spirits ; and so does the 
colt from the old or mature horse. Seasons vary; age, con- 
dition, health, and labor vary; and a rational and generous 
management must vary its details, also, in a corresponding 
degree. The rudiments of a proper, systematic knowledge 
of the business of the farmer and breeder consist in a thor- 
ough acquaintance with the varying wants of the horse under 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 403 

all the modifications of his circumstances and suiroundings; 
and to learn the laws bearing upon this subject should be the 
study, as it certainly is the interest, of all owners of the 
horse every-where. It will be our object, in this chapter, to 
throw what light we can upon these important matters, and 
to present a few plain and practical directions in regard to 
the best methods to be pursued. 

There are two conditions, already adverted to, in which the 
horse demands stronger feed, and more of it, than any others — 
hard service and cold weather. In the spring season, liga- 
ture, that has wrapped herself for mouths in a covering of 
snow to resist the severities of winter, now throws off her 
mantle, and undergoes a change throughout her entire ma- 
terial organism. Her law, in this regard, is universal, and 
nothing is more plainly subject to and affected by it than 
the horse. His coat is shed, his skin changed, his blood 
thinned, and his digestion altered to some extent. His stom- 
ach will not digest, neither does his body require, the food 
that was needed during the cold of winter. That season, 
with its; pressing demands upon the vital energies, has gone ; 
the frame has now relaxed, and less food, and milder, will 
meet all the animal's wants, under the gentle influence of 
spring. All Nature has been dead and dry for nearly half a 
year; and the body that has been fortifying itself with stimu- 
lating food and warm clothing, with thickened skin and a 
denser coat of hair, to meet the rigors and exactions of 
winter, now needs no longer the concentrated substances of 
the dry food and strong diet. 

But while the body has thus been changing, in harmony 
with Nature, so that it now requires other food, Nature has 
been at work preparing for this very emergency. It is the 
Creator's own beneficient provision, for the health and com- 
fort of the brute creation, that he has clothed the fields with 
verdure, and there is nothing so pleasant or healthful to the 
horse as the pasture. 



404 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 




PASTURING. 

The horse that is not allowed a run on pasture in the 
spring is pretty sure to suffer in consequence. His condition 
will be likely to continue bad for months; yet, such is the 
invulnerability of Nature to the impressions of the most un- 
favorable external influences, that perhaps he may speedily 

recover from the effects of this de- 
privation. But it can hardly fail to 
come about that he will be more stu- 
pid than otherwise, and he often mani- 
fests his desire for the open air and 
sweet-scented grass by a restiveness 
and whickering while in the stable, 
and when out of doors by seizing 
every lock of grass within his reach. 
Pasture is the horse's natural food, as the open air is his 
natural stable and home. The horse domesticated is a slave; 
the stable is his prison ; the bridle and harness are his chains 
and fetters; and much of his prepared food is unnatural, and 
not to be really relished, except by an appetite depraved by 
long habit. Even when pure, a great deal of his prepared 
food is not healthy. Much of it is very heating to the blood, 

and possesses a strong tendency to 
produce disease, so that very few 
horses fed exclusively upon it can 
be said to be entirely well. 

To all these evils pasture is an 
P antidote. It is both food and 
medicine to the horse, and he is 
hardly ever unwell when constantly at pasture. If he is cos- 
tive, this will loosen his bowels ; if -his digestion is bad, the 
grass will regulate it ; if his coat is rough and staring, there 
is the remedy ; if the skin is tight and the joints are stiff, the 
grass will relax and loosen them — will cleanse the blood, open 
the capillaries, send out the oily fluids to the surface, and 
soon transform the poor jade into a fine horse, with glossy 
coat and nimble limbs. 





FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT, 405 

Disease, except from accident, is but seldom a tenant of 
the pasture. Nearly all the disorders of the horse are gen- 
erated in the stable, and were 
it not for the pasture in which 
they are sometimes permitted 
to run, hundreds and thou- 
sands of horses would be sick 
that are now in tolerable 
health. It is well that pasture 
is provided during one-half 
the year, so that the damage 
done in the stable during the 
other half may be repaired. 
There is no need that the latter should ever occur. And 
this leads us to speak of the difterent kinds of 

GRASSES. 

If more attention were paid to securing these for use 
during the winter, there would be less sickness among the 
farmer's horses. There is considerable diversity in the char- 
acter and value of diflt'erent grasses, some possessing a much 
greater proportion of nutriment than others. Others are 
especially adapted for pasture in the spring season, as they 
come up very quickly but do not last so well. They can not en- 
dure the heat and drouth of summer, but wither and dry up* 

Other kinds of grass are more hardy; so that, although 
the old straw may die in August and September, they spring 
up again from the roots and seeds of the old stock. Such 
are the clovers, the herd's-grass, and some others. They 
drop their seed in the fall season, and these lie on the ground 
until spring. Then they come up, very small at first, but 
continue to grow, and become the fine, tender grass of the 
fall pastures. The roots of these are what shoot up and 
make the pastures of spring. Such grasses are termed 'per- 
ennials ; that is, lasting more than two years. 

There are many other species of the grasses that grow up 
rankly in the spring, but live only one season, and these are 



406 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

tlie ones that constitute the class called annuals — coming 
yearly. They come from the seed in spring, but by fall they 
have withered and died. There are several varieties of them, 
prominent among which' are millet, and the Hungarian and 
rescue grasses. The last of these is simply the cheat that is 
£0 troublesome in the farmers wheat-fields. When cultivated, 
it grows very thickly and finely, and for both pasture and 
hay is the most valuable among the annuals. It possesses 
more substance than any of the others, and previous to 1860, 
at least, was cultivated very extensively throughout the cot- 
ton States, to whose climate and soil it seems particularly 
adapted. 

The perennial grasses do not thrive below the latitude of 
thirty-five, or the Southern border of Tennessee. None of 
the clovers succeed in the cotton States. The soil is gener- 
ally sandy, and as it rains but seldom from June to Novem- 
ber, the long summer drouths kill out the roots in most 
localities. All the perennials, in fact, that have been tried 
in those regions have proved to be failures, except on low, 
damp grounds. The winter grasses can not be made to 
flourish there. The only kind of grass that we have known 
to really succeed in the cotton States was the herd's-grass, 
of which we have repeatedly seen some fine fields, although 
rarely, if ever, except upon moist bottom lands, seeded when 
first cleared. 

North of the thirty-fifth degree, the dift'erent perennials 
are all grown and flourish, modified somewhat by latitude 
and soil. 

We will here enumerate the various kinds of grasses ordi- 
narily cultivated throughout the West and South, specifying 
the relative value of each for grazing purposes, as also the 
latitude and soil best suited to them. 

First among the many, and having a pre-eminence over 
all others for pasturing, is the hlue-grass of Kentucky and 
Tennessee. It is a small, fine grass, growing about a foot 
high, with an abundance of small leaves at the bottom. The 
top, or seed, resembles that of the herd's-grass, but it ia 



FOOD AND GENEKAL TEEATMENT. 407 

smaller and has a brighter, greener, look; and there is this 
difference, also, between it and the herd's-grass, that it mats 
the ground very thickly with bottom leaves. It lasts through 
the winter, and, under favorable circumstances, the roots will 
not die for years. It sheds an abundance of seed in the sum- 
mer and fall, and on soils adapted to its growth, if it once 
secures a hold, it will overrun the country far and wide ; 
and fields, pastures, door-yards, and roadsides, all alike be- 
come carpeted with its soft, green texture. It is the most 
beautiful o-rass in field or vard that arrows. 

Blue-grass is also the most nutritious of the grasses, and 
very sweet, so that stock of all kinds feed upon it with great 
avidity, and thrive exceedingly. Upon limestone soils it 
grows and spreads almost spontaneously, but upon others is 
cultivated with considerable difficulty. North of the latitude 
of forty, or south of thirty-five, it does not flourish well. It 
does not grow high enough to be of much value for any other 
than grazing purposes, yet the tops may be easil}' cut ofi^" with 
the scythe, and the seed saved, in the months of June and 
July. 

Next after the blue-grass, come the clovers — the white and 
red — which aj-e so well known every-where that they need 
no description. To both of them there are some objections 
for pasture grasses. They act upon the salivary glands, and 
cause an excessive flow of saliva from the mouth, producing 
that debilitating and disagreeable aftection known as slaver- 
ing, or slobbering. The white clover is decidedly more ob- 
jectionable in this respect than the red, and neither of them 
should be allowed the horse when he is at hard labor. 

Although it is generally supposed to weaken the healthy 
animal's strength, if the horse is diseased or in low condi- 
tion, nothing will be of more benefit to him than a run upon 
a good white clover-pasture. This increased action of the 
salivary glands, this slobbering, is not hurtful in his case, but 
just the reverse. The red clover, while less nutritious than 
the white, is more hardy, and in respect to quantity yields 
much better, whether of pasture or hay» 



408 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The herd's-grass and the timothy are next in the list. 
J^either of them are of much value for grazing purposes. 
The herd's-grass is the preferable of the two, from its more 
abundant yield, yet the other is the most nutritious. Either 
makes a very indifferent pasture, and one that does not last 
well through the season. One acre of well-set blue-grass is 
worth three times as much as either of them, if their quali- 
ties as pasture grasses are alone taken into consideration. 

These are all the grasses that possess much merit for graz- 
ing purposes. The clovers grow in all latitudes north of 
thirty -five degrees, flourishing best on rich, dry uplands, and 
upon all soils about equally, excepting the sandy. This is 
also the case with the timothy, but the herd's-grass is par- 
ticularly partial to low and moist situations. 

HAY AN1> FODDER. 

The grasses which are best for pasture are not so for hay. 
While the blue-grass stands at the "head of the list, for the 
former purpose, timothy ranks first in respect to the other. 
It possesses more nutrition, and retains it better, when 
properly harvested, than any other grass. The herd's-grass 
comes next, but this has more juicy matter in its stalk, and 
of this much evaporates, of course, in drying. The white 
clover loses still more from this cause, and the red clover 
most of all. Good, ripe timothy loses only about one-fifth 
its weight in curing ; herd's-grass, two-fifths ; white clover, 
one-half, and red clover about three-fifths. In substance, 
they vary about the same, or in the proportions of from one 
to three; and as to healthfulness, although their relative 
values can not be determined with the same precision, they 
are to be esteemed in the same order, the timothy being 
much the best. 

Many of the annuals make tolerable feed when well saved, 
but are not near so valuable as the grasses. They are often 
termed grasses in their green state, and when cured, hay ; 
but we prefer to class them all as fodder. The rescue-grass 
is the best, being fully equal, if not superior, to the red clover 



FOOD AND GENEKAL TREATMENT. 409 

in substance, and decidedly excelling it on the score of health- 
fulness. Kext is the Hungarian grass, which requires a rich 
soil and favorable season. The millet, which holds the third 
place in the list, is little better than wheat or oat-straw, ex- 
cept for the seed that it bears. A horse fed through a whole 
winter on this kind of fodder would almost starve to death. 

Another kind of fodder, and one much more extensively 
used than any of the annual grasses, is the corn fodder, ob- 
tain-ed by pulling the blades from the stalk, in the month of 
August, and, after allowing them to dry, binding them in 
bundles, and storing them for winter use. This possesses 
considerable nutrition, or rather substance, but is, undoubt- 
edly, injurious in its tendency upon the health and general 
condition of the horse. It appears to dry up the blood in a 
most remarkable manner, and from its great brittleness — 
causing it to chop up easily into a harsh, dry powder — it is 
apt to harm the throat. It constitutes nearly the sole de- 
pendence for fodder in the cotton States, where all the fields 
of corn are regularly stripped of their blades, in August, for 
this purpose. To the extensive use of corn fodder we at- 
tribute much of the unhealthiness of the horse at the South ; 
but this subject having been already discussed at some length, 
in our descriptions of big head, it hardly seems necessary to 
enlarge upon it here. 

The different straws of wheat, rye, and oats possess a 
limited amount of substance — about one-twentieth as much 
as does good timothy hay ; but they are so very dry that 
they can not be regarded as of much value to the horse. 
They may be used as chopped feed, with meal or provender; 
but the horse has such a disrelish for them in any other form, 
that he will not eat them until driven to it by starvation. 

All these varieties of fodder and straw seem much better 
suited to the wants of other animals than the horse. For his 
use they are too dry, and tax the salivary glands too much 
in the process of mastication ; and so with those agencies of 
the stomach which soften the food down into chyme. In 
giving such feed to the horse, it should always be chopped, 



410 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BODK. 

then moistened for an hour at least, and, finally, '-oiled m meal 
or provender. By this course, all its injurious efl'ects upon 
the glands and throat will be entirely prevented. 

Dry hay of all sorts should be prepared in the same way. 
Time can not be better employed than in providing moist 
feed for the horse to eat. To many the idea of chopping 
hay for the regular feed may seem novel, and, perhaps, amus- 
ing. But let the farmer try it for one winter, and note the 
improved condition of his horse, as well as the great saving 
of feed, and he will fully indorse the opinion that time can 
not be spent to better advantage. Corn-stalks and fodder, 
though they may be greatly improved by chopping, can not 
be made suitable food for the horse. 

The condition in which the hay and fodder are secured is 
of the first importance. The grass should be cut about the 
time of maturity, or a little before, while still in bloom, and 
before it becomes dead ripe. Its juices are then just right to 
make the heaviest and best hay, which will keep better, re- 
main sweeter, and be more palatable than if cut either earlier 
or later. If cut when quite immature, there is a lack of 
strength and sweetness, as well as a loss in weight ; and if 
harvested after the period we have indicated, the hay is 
tougher, more woody in its texture, and neither so nutritious 
nor pleasant eating. 

Another thing of essential importance, in regard to secur- 
ing the hay and fodder, is to protect it from the weather, and 
as soon as it is dry to put it in the barn. If the sun shines, 
it is seldom that hay requires to remain out in the field 
more than twenty-four hours, and then it should be carried 
into the barn. " But," say some farmers, " what shall we do 
who have no barns?" That farmer is to be pitied who can 
not contrive some means of putting his horse's provisions 
under proper shelter. He has no business to own a horse, 
and ought to sell his stock to some better and more su3cess- 
ful manager. It is as important to have a barn as a horse, 
and nearly as much so to keep the latter's provisions under 
shelter as those of his master. The horse's food can not be 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 411 

allowed to remain out in the storm and weather, there to rot 
and spoil, without serious consequences to the animal's 
health. "VYeather-beateu, moldy, and mow-burnt hay and 
fodder are the sure instigators of disease; and in a large 
majority of the cases of urinary afiections among horses, the 
trouble may be distinctly' traced back to their use. 

GRAIN. 

It is necessary to feed the horse a proportion of grain. As 
a general rule, one-half the food given him should be of this 
clmracter, but to this there are exceptions, of course. When 
the horse is in low condition or bad health, or when he is 
allowed but little exercise, the quantity of grain should be 
reduced; and, on the other hand, if his labor is severe and 
continuous, ho will need a larger proportion of it than that 
here indicated. 

There is even more difference in the quality and value of 
grains as food for the horse than in the various grasses, and 
the same is true in regard to the manner in which they are 
fed. There are but two kinds of grain that are used to any 
considerable extent in our country as food for the horse, and 
these are oats and corn. The former is fed principally in 
the Northern States, while in most of the Southern States 
corn alone is employed. Both are well known to every 
American farmer, and together they form the great staples 
of the land for feeding stock of all kinds. 

For the horse, oats are much preferable to corn, under all 
circumstances. They are a milder, lighter diet, not so heat- 
ing to the blood, and much more easily digested. They are 
generally not much more than half as heavy as corn, and 
possess less concentrated nutrition and substance. Although 
they can be fed with impunity, in their natural unbroken 
state, they are much better when ground into meal and used 
as provender. In this way, too, they can be used much more 
economically, one-third less sufficing to meet the wants of 
the horse. "When the oats are fed whole, one-half of them 
are generally but imperfectly masticated in the mouth or 



412 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

digested in the stomach. Grinding into meul rer.edies this 
difficnlty entirely. 

Corn is, in many ways, very objectionable as food for the 
horse. It is a gross, heavy diet, very heating to the blood, 
and having a strong tendency to the rapid creation of a 
lymph and fat that is never sound and healthy. It is the 
fruitful source of more diseases than all other kinds of un- 
healthy diet combined. It generates a list of disorders quite 
unknown in those countries where it is not fed to the horse 
at all, and many others that are common to the horse of 
all civilized countries manifest a malignity and fatality in 
America characteristic of them in no other land. 

The horse can hardly ever be well when under full feed- 
ing of corn, w^hich, however excellent for fattening hogs, is 
not the diet for a horse. The horse's structure is different, 
in many respects, from that of the hog, and the effects of 
hio-h feeding are not the same upon both. Suddenly-formed 
flesh is never solid or healthy in the case of the horse ; and 
our experience has taught us to regard corn as the cause of 
more difficulty and disease in veterinary practice, in some 
parts of America, than all other circumstances combined. 
Hundreds of young horses and colts, and many of them 
splendid specimens of the stock-raiser's success and skill, 
have we seen ruined by overfeeding with corn. 

"While writing these pages, a case is before us showing 
the evils of gorging a young horse with corn to put him in 
condition for sale. It is but a few days since that w^e were 
called upon to see a fine, young horse, in Petersburg, Boone 
County, Kentucky, valued at three hundred and fifty dollars, 
and actually sold for that sum, the animal to be delivered in 
a few days. In one of his eyes the water had a cream-col- 
ored appearance, and the other showed unmistakeable signs 
of disease. We bled him ; but with a good fleam and a 
heavy blow from an unusually large stick, barely succeeded 
in penetrating the jugular vein. His skin was as hard and 
thick as the hide of a bull. 

This horse had been suffering from a cataneous (skin) fever 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 413 

for a twelvemonth preceding, and now the disease was assum- 
ing all the phases of hide-bound. His kidneys and urinary 
organs were seriously affected ; his sheath had become foul ; 
his pulse was about fifty, and yet he was very fat. Right 
here was the trouble, in fact. He had been crowded with 
corn every day to make him fatter, until, finally, his eyes had 
fallen victims to the consuming fever of the blood and skin; 
and we gave as the diagnosis of the case, "Destroyed by 
corn." Thousands of similar sad instances have there been 
in the history of American agriculture and stock-raising. 
But perhaps some will suggest that the horse probably had 
" naturally weak eyes." This was not the case, by any 
means ; we never saw a finer formed eye than his. There was 
no trouble there. The difliculty all proceeded from the in- 
judicious feeding, which no horse of his age could bear with- 
out contracting disease of some kind. If we had seen the 
animal two months earlier, the mischief might have been 
prevented. 

Many will doubtless be ready to inquire whether they shall 
not feed corn at all. We answer, " Yes — to your hogs and 
cattle, which it suits very well, but not to your horse, if you 
have any thing else to keep him upon ; and if you must use 
it, the smaller the proportion of his feed which the corn 
makes the better it will be for him." It may answer very 
well to feed old horses on corn, at half feed, especially if the 
precaution be taken to keep a good suppl}' of wood ashes 
always in the manger. Perhaps the chief difficulty consists 
in biting the corn from the cob. In the case of young horses, 
this keeps the teeth and gums sore, and develops the ten- 
dency to fever, which is especially strong at that age, and 
hence the greater extent to which they suffer than older 
animals. 

A great many horses do not sufficiently masticate the 
grain, but swallow much of it barely cracked into pieces, 
or sometimes not cracked at all. Such food it overtaxes 
the stomach to digest; it heats and ferments, and then fol- 
low all the evil consequences of colic. But few young horses 



414 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

fed on corn escape the annoyances, if tliey prove no worse, 
of a sour stomach and constant distension ; nor do many 
older ones come into their feed of corn at night, after a 
hard day's work or a long drive, without suffering more or 
less from frequent disturbances of the digestive process. 

Doubtless much of the evil eftect incident to the use of 
corn might be obviated by having the corn ground, and 
then used as provender, allowing it to lie w^et for half an 
hour before using to soak and swell. But this is too much 
work and trouble for the majority of farmers in this fast and 
busy age. These exemplify the proverb which speaks of 
"throwing out more with the spoon than they can bring in 
with the shovel." As we have repeatedly remarked, good 
wood ashes will prove of great benefit in connection with a 
regular diet of corn, since they tend to neutralize the acid 
condition of the stomach, and carry digestion forward in a 
healthful manner. 

Barley may be used as half feed, but is nearly as objec- 
tionable as corn. Wheat-bran and rye should be used spar- 
ingly, as they act too powerfully upon the bowels to be used 
freely. They do best when mixed with oat or corn-meal as 
provender to go upon chopped feed. 

GREEN FEED FOR WINTER. 

It is the work of economy, and highly conducive to the 
horse's health, to provide for his use during the winter as 
much green feed as possible. He may be given carrots, tur- 
nips, beets, pumpkins, and potatoes w^ith decided advantage. 
The first two of these are the best, but he will eat any green 
feed, even to cabbages and apples, with greediness, and all 
are excellent in their effects upon his health and general 
condition. Throughout the winter, every horse that is kept 
upon dry feed should have a green feed once a day. If this 
course was in general practice, fewer diseases would visit our 
stables, and fine, fat, lively horses and colts would multiply 
greatly. 

We feed both our cows and hogs upon slop, and with this 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 



415 



treatment they are generally kept healthy and fat Give our 
horses the benefits of a similar practice, and they will be as 
plump and sleek as one could wish them. The Arab feeds 
his horse upon the same substances that he eats himself; 
beginning with the colt, he trains the animal to eat what- 
ever is given him; and we all know that the Arab has the 
finest horse in the world. 




THE GODOLPHIN AKABIAN. 

Two gallons of slop — of grease and salt, and the extract 
of vegetables which have been boiled in the liquid — will 
form both food and medicine. Colts may not only be taught 
when very young to relish such messes, but would partake 
of them with great and certain benefit. 

GENERAL STABLE MANAGEMENT. 

No division of our subject is of more importance than 
this. The fearful effects of bad stables upon the health and 
vigor of the horses of this country it would be almost im- 



416 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

possible to compute. Many stables are but sinks of filth, and 
rottenness — perfect lazarettoes — haunts of disease and death. 
The aggregate amount of disease and debility flowing from 
this source is absolutely incalculable. 

It is not so much the farmer's stables that are in fault as 
some of those of the towns and cities. There, many a home 
provided for the horse is located in some back alley, in some 
low, damp, dark situation, where there is little room and 
still less light and air, and where great piles of manure are 
suffered to accumulate within and without, filling the wdiole 
atmosphere with their reeking fumes. There are a great 
many exceptions to this description, of course, and most of 
our city livery stables, especially, must be exempted from 
these charges. These are general!}' well built, conveniently 
arranged, and managed with a judicious carefulness that at 
once removes every thing offensive. 

From the nuisance of the farmer's stables, his horse is 
each year allowed a considerable respite in the pasture. A 
great many stables in the country are neither built nor man- 
aged better than those pest-houses for the horse which wei 
described in the last paragraph ; but the surroundings aret 
much more favorable. There are generally no other build- 
ings close at hand to obstruct the free circulation of the air 
outside of the stable, and thus the dung dries up rapidly, 
while much of the unwholesome effluvia is carried away byi 
the wind. 

The construction of the stable — its size, form, etc. — is at 
matter of no small moment. Every horse should have hig 
stall, which should be sufficiently large for him to turn roun(3 
in it, and so arranged that he can lie down. Not only is iH 
exceedingly tiresome to the horse to be compelled to stand 
continually upon his feet, but it often proves very injurious. 
Soreness and swelling of the joints often result from it, and! 
not uufrequently these are aggravated into permanent stiff- 
ness. In many instances, a hurt of the leg or joint, reccivcc 
in his daily labor, would pass away without serious couso 
quences were the animal allowed to rest his limbs by lyiut 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 417 

13 down ; but by constantly standing, an obstinate,' if not in- 
'!t curable, disease sets up — spavin, ring-bone, or the like. 
[ One of the first questions in practical importance, to be 
,1 considered in the erection of a stable, is 

J '< 

, LIGHT. 

H Light is essential to the growth and development of every 

I object in the world that has existence in an organized form. 

Life of no kind, whether animal or vegetable, can prosper 

without it. The tiniest spear of grass must have light, or it 

floses its color and substance ; and the same law is true, with- 

iout variation, throughout all the higher types of organism 

xin the animal and vegetable kingdoms alike. 

|l > The importance of light to the material world can hardly 

fbe conceived. Without light there could be no heat, so that 

our world, under that deprivation, would not only be in per- 

ipetual darkness blacker than midnight, but it would be a 

Lfrozen chaos. Light is the stimulating agent that causes 

j^every thing upon the earth's surface to bud and spring 

forth, clothing the valleys with verdure, the plains with 

'waving fields and ripening orchards, the hill-sides with tow- 

jjering forests, and making the whole face of Nature a pano- 

iirama of unceasing, yet ever-changing, beauty and gladness. 

'Life is dependent upon it no less for preservation than for 

(creation and development. Nothing can continue to live 

without it; and while it is true that animals and plants can 

:not live upon it, it is equally true that they can not live with- 

iiout it. All living creatures — the whole of animated Nature — 

'should be permitted to enjoy it freely at such times as the 

beneficent Creator has arranged to furnish it to the world. 

JTo deprive any animal of light will be to materially injure 

^:it, and prove the occasion of disease, if not of death. 

\i What, then, must be the condition of that horse whom the 

[ignorance, the heedlessness, or the parsimony of his owner 

^condemns to dreary confinement, for a great part of his time, 

iin a dark, close stable? How can the effect be otherwise than 

highly detrimental? Such we always find 'it to be. To say 

27 



418 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

nothing of other diseases either originating in this cause, oi 
aggravated by it, the number of horses that have lost their 
eyesight in dark stables is a matter almost incredible. To 
this wretched defect in the care bestowed upon the animal, 
nearly all cases of moon-eyes may be referred in less or greater 
degree. No horse can permanently retain unimpaired vision 
if deprived of light during the day. The eye is naturally the 
first and greatest sufferer from this deprivation, as this is the 
organ especially adapted to the conditions and enjoyment of 
light. When brought suddenly out into the glare of day, 
the horse which has been kept in a dark stable is dazzled 
and confused by the overpowering brightness, so that it is 
some time before he is enabled to see as well as usual. Every 
time this takes place, the trouble is apt to increase, and con- 
tinue longer than before. By and by, when some fever arises, 
it fixes its hold upon the eyes, which begin turning white; 
and then the alarmed owner anxiously inquires, "What is 
the matter with my horse's eyes? He seems to be going 
blind." To such let us say, emphatically, " Your dark stables 
have done it." 

No special directions can be minutely prescribed concern- 
ing the best means of admitting light into the stable. Upon 
this point the intelligent owner must exercise his own judg- 
ment and taste. No rule could be given, unless all stables 
were built alike. But, in general terms, it may be laid down 
that the light should be somewhat higher than the horse's 
head — behind him rather than in front — and that, as to the 
quantity admitted, the stable should be kept nearly as light 
as it is out-doors. No stable, it may be added, should be 
whitewashed inside, unless it is impossible to light it from 
without. 

VENTILATION AND TEMPERATURE. 

Another matter of prime importance in the construction 
of a home for the horse is an abundant provision for furnish- 
ing it with pure air; yet, while ventilation is thus essen- 
tial, some arrangement must be adopted for protecting the 
horse from the cold in winter. Ventilators and windows, as 



FOOD AND GENEKAL TREATMENT. 419 

a rule, should be placed higher than the auimal's head. The 
flooring and sides of the building should be air-tight, or, if 
the sides can not be made so all the way up, this end should 
be secured in their fittino^ too-ether for at least several feet 
from the floor. This is to prevent the cold winds from blow- 
ing directly upon the horse. Many stables are so open that 
the winds can blow through the large open cracks in the 
sides and floors with stinging keenness, and then the horse, 
fastened in his stall so as to have no exercise whatever, be- 
comes chilled throughout his whole frame, and colds, with 
most serious lung or constitutional afl:ections, are frequently 
brought on. The horse is probably more likely to take cold 
upon any dry, cold night, when housed in such a stable, 
than if he were running shelterless upon the common; be- 
cause in the latter case he would be pretty sure to avail him- 
self of his freedom to move about, and this exercise would 
help to keep him warm. 

On the other hand, close, hot stables are most decidedly 
objectionable. Except in very cold weather, the atmosphere 
within the stable should not be kept more than ten or twelve 
degrees above the temperature out of doors. It is not desir- 
able to make the building warm, so much as to shut out the 
cold currents of air. This extremely unhealthy condition of 
the stable is much more common in the city than in the coun- 
try, and was formerly a still more prevalent evil than it is now, 

A number of horses shut up in a narrow, close stable pro- 
duce, by their breathing, a most deleterious change in the 
character of the air. Each pair of lungs throws off an im- 
mense amount of carbonic acid gas, and with this the atmos- 
phere in a small, tight apartment soon becomes so greatly 
surcharged as to be absolutely poisonous. Yet how many 
stables are there in the United States, as elsewhere through- 
out the civilized world, in which a most disproportionate 
number of horses are shut up all night, and much of the day 
besides, with no aperture left open for the escape of the foul, 
fetid air, or the admission from without of that which is 
fresh and cool. 



420 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Says Youatt, in treating of tliis subject: "What is the 
consequence of all this? Why, if one thought be bestowed 
on the new and dangerous character which the air is assum- 
ing, it will be too evident that sore throat, swelled legs, and 
bad eyes, and inflamed lungs, and mange, and grease, and 
glanders will scarcely ever be long out of that stable." 

Taken out of one of these hot-houses into the open air, 
often standing for hours in the streets fastened to some hitch- 
iug-post, while his master, within doors, is comfortably toast- 
ing his shins before a blazing fire, the horse will be almost 
sure to take cold. The pores are open, the system is relaxed, 
and altogether the animal is in a poor condition indeed to 
withstand the cold and exposure. 

In putting up a stable, the number of horses which it is 
desisrned to accommodate should be taken into careful con- 
sideration, and the building be made as commodious and airy 
as possible. A stable for six horses should be about thirty- 
six feet long, sixteen feet wide, and twelve feet in height to 
the loft, if there be any. The loft should not extend to the 
side of the stable back of the horses, but a considerable space, 
as much as three feet, should be left for the foul air of the stable 
to ascend; and openings should be provided under the plates for 
the escape of these gases. This is the most judicious plan of 
building a stable, having it wide, so that there may be a row 
of stalls upon each side, with abundant space for the passage 
of all the foul air generated below up to and out under the 
roof. 

Another very important matter is the immediate removal 
of all impure substances which may be found in and about 
the stable, of what kind soever. The practice, common in 
some sections, of throwing the manure under the stable 
should be abandoned at once. When the building is situated 
on the side of a hill, so that the back part is considerably 
elevated above the ground, it will be very convenient to 
throw out the manure behind. There can be no" objection 
to this procedure, if the manure be at once removed in carts, 
as it should be in all cases. 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 421 

Give the horse plenty of light in his stable, with an abun- 
dance of pure, fresh air, and one half of the diseases which 
now infest the habitations of our horses will entirely disap- 
pear " Of nothing are we more certain," says Youatt, "than 
that the majority of the maladies of the horse, and those of 
the worst and most fatal character, are, directly or indirectly, 
to be attributed to a deficient supply of air. Each of these 
evils is to be dreaded — each is, in a manner, watching for its 
prey; and when they are combined, more than half of the 
inmates of the stables are often swept away." 

While the entire system of the horse becomes impaired by 
his confinement in close, damp, dark stables, some particular 
organ or member generally suffers much more than the 
others. In regard to the feet, a number of ailments may 
thus be produced — hoof-rot, scratches, thrush, cracked heels, 
swelled legs, and others of the same class ; while on the skin 
appear surfeit, mange, hide-bound, stiff complaint, and warts, 
with vermin innumerable. But perhaps the eyes are most 
of all affected by the deprivation of light and the eft'ects of 
foul air, especially of those pungent fumes of ammonia which 
are continually arising from the urine and the piles of hot 
and steamiug manure. We sincerely believe that three out 
of every five cases of bad eyes which occur in our country 
proceed from these causes. Let this admonish our farmers 
and stable-keepers generally to remedy these evils at once, if 
such exist upon their premises. 

FLOORING. 

The kind of flooring upon which the horse stands, for 
months or years together, is a consideration of some impor- 
tance to every owner or keeper of a horse, who regards the 
animal's health and comfort as well as his own convenience. 
There are three kinds of floors in common use throughout 
American stables, which we name in the order of our pref- 
erence, as follows: The dirt or gravel floor, the wood or 
plank floor, and the flagstone or pavement. 

The horse prospers best on the dirt or gravel floor. It is 



422 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

not SO hard as the others, and is both cooler in summer 
and warmer in winter. The only objection to it is the 
loss of a great part of the urine, which, when mixed with 
the dung and straw, forms the most valuable part of the 
compost for manure. Earth floors should be raised five or 
six inches above the level of the general surface, and are 
best when made of sand or tine gravel. One of their man- 
ifest advantages is the ease of the horse's legs and feet, on 
account of their softness and coolness ; and another is their 
economy, their cheapness. It is but seldom that any other 
floors are met with south of the Ohio and Potomac, and no 
other kind is ever seen on the plantations of the cotton 
States. At the South they are believed to be much more 
conducive to health than any other. 

The plank floor is in general use at the North. In a cold 
climate it is regarded as a protection from the frost supposed 
to gather on the top of the ground, which thus becomes cold 
and damp. These considerations have no weight at the 
South, where the cold is rarely severe enough to freeze the 
dirt floors. Our experience at the North is too limited to 
enable us to pass any judgment upon the correctness of these 
views as an objection to the earth floor. Plank floors are 
very hard for the horse to stand upon, and, unless made quite 
tight, are apt to be cold in winter. Many of the barn-stables 
in the Northern States are merely loose floors, quite un- 
jointed, through whose chinks and cracks the cold winds 
come up in piercing currents, and the horse suffers not a little 
in consequence. They are usually so high from the ground, 
too, that in summer they are very warm. 

The pavement floor, which is used only in cities, except 
for its hardness, is quite unobjectionable. But this is not 
felt as so serious a disadvantage where the horse spends 
most of the day upon the hard pavements of the streets ; and 
in many large stables floored in this manner, a coating of 
saw-dust makes the surface soft and pleasant to tread upon. 
Such floors are very cool in summer. 

Whatever the kind of floor adopted, it should be laid 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 423 

entirely level, as otherwise the horse can not habitually stand 
easy and comfortable. The construction of some floors, by 
which thev are made to slant backward from the manner, 
is altogether wrong. Its unpleasant eftects upon the horse 
may be understood from the simple experiment of standing 
three or four hours with one's toes an inch or so higher than 
his heels. 

Let the floor, we repeat, be level, as dry as possible, and, 
by frequent sweepings, kept perfectly clean, with litter and 
bedding often changed. 

t BEDDING. 

This IS often called litter, but what is really needed is a 
bed for the horse to lie down upon in his stall. The latter 
should not only be roomy enough, and so arranged that its 
inmate can lie down in it, when so disposed, but it should 
always be spread with a good, clean bed of straw, or some 
proper substitute, such as that most excellent one saw-dust. 
No matter what is used, however, the portions wet by the 
urine, and all the manure, should be removed every morn- 
ing, and if the horse stands in the stable during the day, at 
evening also. The urine and the soaking straw decompose 
very rapidly, and give off large amounts of offensive vapors, 
especially of the injurious fumes of ammonia, or hartshorn, 
and hence they should be removed frequently. In many of 
our best stables, this is done every few hours — an excellent 
regulation, worthy of adoption every- where. 

The bedding should not be too thick, or so as to cover the 
feet of the horse, as this tends to heat them, and thus induce 
inflammation and disease. Two inches of bedding, of what- 
ever sort, will be ample for any season of the year. As an 
act of humanity, it is due the horse that he be given a bed 
to both stand and lie down upon in his stall. A percepti- 
ble difl'erence may be discovered between the condition of a 
horse that stands continually upon a hard floor, and that of 
another who has a good bed provided for his use at all times. 
In winter a sufficiency of bedding will do much to counter- 



424 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

act the evils of au open plank floor, between whose joints the 
cold currents of air are always rushing up, not only to the 
very great discomfort of the horse, but also to the material 
detriment of his health. 

CLEANSING AND CURRYING. 

The proper use of the curry-comb and brush may be called 
the sheet-anchor of all good stable management. There is 
never too much of it, and but seldom half enough. When 
the horse is allowed his liberty in the pasture, he will curry 
himself pretty well, against the fence-posts and trees, while 
the water from the rain-cloud will wash him oif. If we de- 
prive him of his liberty, and shut him up in the stable, we 
ought to do this much for him; and then, too, he needs this 
attention more in the stable than when running in some dry 
pasture. All horses kept constantly in stable, require con- 
stant cleaning and currying, and this is still more necessary 
in the case of those that are driven or ridden in the mud and 
rain. It is a disgraceful act of inhumanity to push the faith- 
ful horse over bad roads, then turn him into the stable, and 
let him remain until morning, or perhaps still longer, with 
not only his limbs covered with dirt, but his whole body be- 
spattered with mud. JSTo person has a right to treat the 
horse in this manner. It will aftbrd the poor animal nearly 
as much satisfaction to be freed from these accumulations 
of filth, as it does the negligent, unfeeling owner. 

Cleanliness is also highly conducive to the health of the 
horse. The darkness and confinement of the stable are not 
favorable to the action of the pores of the skin. These little 
vessels do not throw out their oily secretions to the surface 
with the same readiness as when the horse lives in the open 
air ; neither do the dead particles of the cuticle, or scarfskin, 
detach themselves at the proper time with equal freedom. 
Sunshine, breezes and showers have the eflect to loosen the 
scurf, and to soften the skin ; and for these reasons the horse 
running regularly in pasture needs but little attention in 
this line. In the stable, however, Nature needs assistance, 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 425 

and the curry-comb and brush, with the addition ir summer- 
time, of the tub of cold water and a good sponge, will be of 
essential service, and in some degree ameliorate the animal's 
prison-life. Many horses kept in stables suffer from a con- 
stant fever of the skin, and for this trouble good currying is 
a most excellent remedy. It acts as a counter-irritant and 
afibrds great relief. 

The diflerence between the appearance of a horse that is 
habitually well rubbed down, and that of one in whose keep- 
ing this is neglected will be very perceptible to the least ob- 
servant. No intelligent keeper of the horse but is well 
aware how greatly hand-rubbing excites the secretions of the 
skin upon the legs, and causes the hair to shine with unusual 
glossiness. The skin is warmed and made pliant by the rub- 
bing, the unctuous fluid flows forth, and the whole surface is 
oiled from ligature's own fountain. In all diseases of the 
skin, rubbing and currying is quite as essential a part of the 
treatment as medication, and very often even more so. 

This being so important a branch of stable management, 
and the subject one of such universal applicability, we in- 
troduce the remarks of Youatt, upon the same topic: 

"Of grooming, there need not much be said to the agricul- 
turist, since custom, and apparently without ill-effect, has 
allotted so little of the comb and brush to the farmer's horse. 
The animal that is worked all day, and turned out at night, 
requires little more to be done to him than to have the dirt 
brushed off" his limbs. Regular grooming, by rendering his 
skin more sensible to the alteration of temperature and the 
inclemency of the weather, would be prejudicial. The horse 
that is altogether turned out needs no grooming. The 
dandriff", or scurf, which accumulates at the roots of the hair, 
is a provision of Nature to defend him from the wind and 
the cold. 

"It is to the stabled horse, highly fed, and little or irregu- 
larly worked, that grooming is of so much consequence. 
Good rubbing with the brush or the curry-comb opens the 
pores of the skin, circulates the blood to the extremities of 



426 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

the body, produces free and healthy perspiration, and stands 
in the room of exercise. No horse will carry a fine coat 
without either unnatural heat or dressing. They both effect 
the same purpose. They both increase the insensible perspi- 
ration ; but the first does it at the expense of health and 
strength; while the second, at the same time that it pro- 
duces a glow on the skin, and a determination of blood to 
it, rouses all the energies of the frame. It would be well for 
the proprietor of the liorse if he were to insist — and to see 
that his orders are really obeyed — that the fine coat, in which 
he and his groom so much delight, is produced by honest 
rubbing, and not by a heated stable and thick clothing, and, 
most of all, not by stimulating or injurious spices. The horse 
should be regularly dressed every day, in addition to the 
grooming that is necessary after work. 

" When the weather will permit the horse to be taken out, 
he should never be groomed in the stable, unless he is an 
animal of peculiar value, or placed for a time under peculiar 
circumstances. Without dwelling on the want of cleanliness, 
when the scurf and dust that are brushed from the horse 
lodge in his manger, and mingle with his food, experience 
teaches that, if the cold is not too great, the animal is braced 
and invigorated to a degree that can not be attained in the 
stable, from being dressed in the open air. There is no ne- 
cessity, however, for half the punishment which many a 
groom inflicts upon the horse in the act of dressing; and 
particularly on one whose skin is thin and sensible. The 
curry-comb should, at all times, be lightly applied. With 
many horses, its use may be almost dispensed with; und even 
the brush needs not to be so hard, nor the points of the bris- 
tles so irregular, as they often are. A soft brush, with a little 
more weight of the hand, will be equally effectual, and a 
great deal more pleasant to the horse. A hair-cloth, while it 
will seldom irritate and tease, will be almost sutiicient with 
horses that have a thin skin, and that have not been neglected. 
After all, it is no slight task to dress a horse as it ought to 
be done. It occupies no little time, and demands consider- 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 427 

able patience, as well as dexterity. It will be readily ascer- 
tained whether a horse has been well dressed by rubbing him 
with one of the fingers. A greasy stain will detect the idle- 
ness of the groom. "When, however, the horse is changing 
his coat, both the curry-comb and the brush should be used 
as lightly as possible. 

" Whoever would be convinced of the benefit of friction to 
the horse's skin, and to the horse generally, needs only to 
observe the effects produced by well hand-rubbing the legs 
of a tired horse. While every enlargement subsides, and 
the painful stiffness disappears, and the legs attain their 
natural warmth, and become fine, the animal is evidently 
and rapidly reviving; he attacks his food with appetite, and 
then quietly lies down to rest." 

CHANGES OF WEATHER AND TEMPERATURE. 

Nature prepares the horse, as it does all the other members 
of the animal creation, for the changes of the seasons — from 
heat to cold, and from cold to heat. There is a wonderful 
provision for this purpose, in the arrangement of the vary- 
ing conditions of the skin — the opening of the pores as sum- 
mer advances, and their closing upon the approach of winter. 
Another admirable adaptation of conditions to surrounding 
circumstances is exhibited by the growth of the hair in the 
fall season, when it is soon to be needed for the protection of 
the animal from the rigor of winter, and then by its gradual 
shedding in the spring, when it is needed no longer. 

These changes are rarely attended by any inconvenience 
to the horse, much less any serious ills ; but there are other 
changes created by man, his master, that often very much 
affect his health and condition. Taking him out of a warm 
stable into a cold, beating rain, or into a sharp atmosphere, 
crisp with a biting frost, constitutes one of these unfavorable 
changes. Another is driving him very hard and then hitch- 
ing him to a post in the cold or storm, without any protection, 
and thus allowing him to remain until his whole frame is 
numb and chilled with the cold. Another is turning hiiu 



428 



AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 



into an open lot, to spend the night in the rain, sleet, mud, 
or snow, after several hours or an entire day of severe exer- 
cise. There are many more such dangerous transitions, most 
of them downright abuses ; but we have room to specify only 
one additional, and that is bringing the horse suddenly into 
a hot stable from a wintry atmosphere without, so cold that 
he has been half chilled to death. 

To all these changes the horse is often exposed, and, in 
consequence, often falls a victim to those diseases which they 
have a tendency to produce, especially affections of the lungs, 
the skin, and the feet. If we are compelled or choose to 
place our horses in such circumstances, we ought to afford 
them all the protection in our power. If the animal has 
long to wait upon our necessity or our pleasure, it would be 
much better to procure a stable for him to stand in mean- 
while; but if this can not be done, it would be an act of 
both humanity and economy to afford him the warmth and 
comfort of a good 

BLANKETING. 

No better investment can be made than the purchase of a 
good, thick, and substantial blanket 
for the horse's use during cold and 
stormy weather. It should, of course, 
be fitted with straps and buckles in 
front, behind, and beneath, just back 
of the fore-legs. 
A gum-elastic blanket might be so 
constructed as to be thrown over the horse and cover the entire 
harness or saddle. This will protect the latter from the 
weather as well as the animal himself. It 
would be easy to arrange it so that the horse 
could travel with this covering, leaving 
but a small portion of the harness ex- 
posed at all. 

In a state of Nature, and upon ordinary 
occasions, even in his domesticated condition, the horse is 
sufficiently provided for by his natural clothing — the hair. 





FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 429 

It is only when his blood has become unusually heated 
by severe exercise, or when he is suddenly plunged from 
one extreme of temperature into the other, or when he has 
become enfeebled by disease, that the horse needs any extra 
covering, unless the weather is extraordinarily cold. Protec- 
tion to the horse is only needed to modify his condition, and 
to counteract the unhealthy influences of great and sudden 
changes. 

DISINFECTANTS. 

Disinfectants should be used in all stables, more or less. 
The larger ones, in which many horses are crowded together, 
are those which, most of all, need systematic and frequent 
repetitions of the disinfecting process. The livery stable is 
never properly kept unless an intelligent, liberal use of dis- 
infectants forms one feature of its management. No horse 
is entirely safe in a stable filled with strange horses unless 
this course is pursued. It is of quite as much importance to 
the farmer coming to town with his produce, or the traveler 
of any sort away from home, to know that his horse is not 
to be infected with some terrible contagion, as it is to be sure 
that he has plenty of food and proper attention. 

Glanders, farcy, and distemper often take possession of a 
stable covertly, weeks before the majority of hostlers can 
detect the presence of any thing wrong. In stables where 
strange horses are going and cording every hour, there is no 
assurance that an infected animal has not been thrust in 
among the rest. Perhaps a glandered horse, with the dis- 
ease in its incipient stages, may come into a large stable full 
of horses, and not more than two or three of the whole num- 
ber take the dreadful malady from him. Yet whose horse 
is safe in such company? If proper disinfectants have been 
used, there will be little danger. 

There are but three articles commonly employed as disin- 
fectants that possess much value in the stable. We mention 
them in the order in which we esteem them, thus : tobacco, 
sulphur, and lime. 



430 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

For stable purposes, we consider tobacco the best disinfec 
tant known. It is the antidote of glanders, farcy, and dis 
temper; and if it be used in the manner prescribed elsewhere 
for the treatment of those diseases, the spread of contagion 
can be effectually prevented. Every contagious disease, in 
either man or beast, has its particular disinfectant — that is, 
one better adapted to counteract its peculiar influences than 
any other substance. All disinfectants are not of equal 
power, when applied to the disorders of man, that they possess 
when used in veterinary practice, and vice, versa; but, in either 
case, a perfect disinfectant is the best remedy for the disease. 
Reversing this proposition, it may be said that the best 
remedy for the disease is the only sure disinfectant. 

Tobacco will cure glanders, in its first and second stages, 
when other modes of treatment utterly fail ; and it is the only 
substance that can be considered a certain disinfectant of this 
fearful disease. A few stalks or leaves of " the weed " burned 
in an old kettle in the stable, when the horse is attended in 
the morning, will work wonders in improving the sanitary 
condition of the building, if any infection either happens to 
be lurking there undiscovered, or is already in full, fell play. 
Unlike some disinfectants, tobacco does not materially change 
the qualities of the infected atmosphere; but its virtue con- 
sists mainly in its action upon the system of the animal 
whence the infection proceeds, destro^^ing, or at least neutral- 
izing, the very source of danger, the poison of disease. 

Sulphur has been known to the author of this work for 
more than fifteen years as a disinfectant of great value for 
those types of malignant disease which generate foulness and 
putridity within the system ; and tliis is one reason why its 
free use internally has been so often and persistently pre- 
scribed in many of the foregoing chapters. It has lately been 
employed as a disinfectant by fumigation, also. "When it is 
burned in the atmosphere, sulphurous gas is formed, which is 
believed to be of great benefit in counteracting contagious 
influences. But whether it will destroy the virus of glanders 
or distemper yet remains to be tested. "We are confident 



FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 431 

that tobacco will do this, having used it repeatedly with the 
greatest success ; for which reason tobacco is what we recom- 
mend in all such cases. 

Lime is a highly-esteemed disinfectant when employed to 
nullify the noxious effluvia arising from the decomposition 
of vegetable matter; for instance, in the vicinity of sewers, 
stagnant pools, piles of manure, and heaps of rotting garbage. 
Chloride of lime, or lime itself, placed in these localities will 
disinfect them to a very great extent. Hence, the exhala- 
tions from a box or kettle of the chloride will be of great 
value in neutralizing the odors and injurious gases in the 
stable proceeding from rotting manure and the like causes; 
but it does not appear to have any power to destroy or break 
up disease. 

In a stable where any contagion is known to have lately 
existed, tobacco may, perhaps, be regarded as the only real 
safeguard ; yet this remark must not be understood as pro- 
nouncing against the use of either lime or sulphur in connec- 
tion with it. They may be employed with benefit as medi- 
cine, and probably as fumigators, also. Every part of the 
stable near which the infection may possibly have been, should 
be thoroughly washed with a decoction of tobacco. A dense 
smoke of the same should form the fumigation, and tobacco- 
leaves — the finer the better — should be kept for a time in all 
the mangers of that stable. 

Other disinfectants, such as copperas, chloroform, assafetida, 
etc., have had their advocates ; but the three which we have 
named are the principal agents of this character, and the 
others are not to be used, except in special cases. 

EXERCISE. 

K it be at all possible, horses should have regular, daily 
exercise in some way. The farm-horse generally has enough 
of this in the routine of daily toil. It is only the horse that 
is kept for pleasure which spends most of his time in the stable. 
Such an animal has great need of set periods, at regular and 
frequent intervals, for exercise; otherwise his legs are apt to 




432 \MEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

become stiff, and swellings puff out the joints. Exercise 
improves condition and spirits, and is often a preventive of 
disease. It should be moderate ; for the class of horses which 
we have described are not capable of undergoing such fatigue 
as would seem quite easy to the farm or wagon horse, not 
having the same hardness of muscle nor equal powers of en- 
durance. 

Great care should be taken not to put horses that have 

been idle for some time 
to severe exercise too 
suddenly. Great evils 
have followed this in- 
judicious course, and, in 
many instances, the loss 
of the horse too late has 
opened the eyes of the owner to its folly. The remarkable 
case of lock-jaw, described on page 203-205 of this work, oc- 
curred while the author was engaged in preparing the first 
draft of the present chapter, and fully illustrates what we 
wish to say in this connection. 

Many farmers pursue a course similar to the one described 
in that narrative, in overworking horses unaccustomed to 
hard service; and though lock-jaw may rarely follow, they 
are lucky, indeed, if no other disease fastens itself upon their 
abused and jaded animals. In consequence of such misman- 
agement, not a few of the best horses ever bred have failed; 
while, if they had been the subjects of a little consideration 
and judgment, such as would have put them to work gard- 
ually, and have increased the amount of labor exacted from 
them as they were able to bear it, they might have contin- 
ued to do excellent service for a whole lifetime without any 
suffering in becoming inured to protracted and severe toil. 

In the case of lock-jaw referred to above, it was a great 
mistake to put the young mare to such hard work in the 
hottest days of August. More favorable results ought not 
to have been anticipated. The best time for accustoming 
the young draft-horse to the labor which is to be demanded 



FOOD AXD GENERAL TREATMENT. 433 

of him is in spring, beginning early in the season ; and next 
to this period, the cool days of fall. Many a horse has been 
brought from the stable or the pasture, either after a long 
rest, or else having never worked at all, and then, being put 
at once to hard service, has failed, upon which the owner 
has been apt to think himself cheated in his bargain ; whereas 
a more judicious management might have led to a full reali- 
zation of all his expectations, and have secured him the labor 
of a valuable animal for many years. 

Our English author, (Youatt,) although mainly addressing 
other classes of horse-owners than the farmer, is very clear 
and satisfactory in his treatment of this subject. He says: 

"Our observations on this important branch of stable-man- 
agement must have only slight reference to the agricultural 
horse. His work is usually regular, and not exhausting. He 
is neither predisposed to disease by idleness, nor worn out by 
excessive exertion. He, like his master, has enough to do to 
keep in health, and not enough to distress or injure him ; on 
the contrary, the regularity of his work prolongs life to an 
extent rarely witnessed in the stable of a gentleman. Our 
remarks on exercise, then, must have a general bearing, or 
have principal reference to those persons who are in the 
middle stations of life, and ho contrive to keep a horse for 
business or pleasure, but can not aftbrd to maintain a servant 
for the express purpose of looking after it. 

" The first rule we would lay down is, that every horse 
should have daily exercise. The animal that, with the usual 
stable-feeding, stands idle for three or four days, as is the case 
in many establishments, must suffer. He is predisposed to 
fever, or to grease, or, most of all, to diseases of the foot; 
and if, after three or four days of inactivity, he is ridden far 
and fast, he is almost sure to have inflammation of the lungs 
or of the feet. 

"A gentleman's or tradesman's horse suffers a great deal 

more from idleness than he does from work. A stable-fed 

horse should have two hours' exercise every day, if he is to 

be kept free from disease. Nothing of extraordinary, or even 

28 



434 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

of ordinary labor can be effected on the road or in the field with 
out sufficient and regular exercise. It is this alone which can 
give energy to the system, or develop the powers of any animaL 
" How, then, is this exercise to be given ? As much as 
possible by, or under the superintendence of^ the owner. The 
exercise given by the groom is rarely to be depended upon. 
It is inefficient or it is extreme. It is, in many cases, both 
irregular and injurious. It is dependent upon the caprice of 
him who is performing a task, and who will render that task 
subservient to his own pleasure or purpose. 

" Kothiug is so common and so preposterous as for a per- 
son to buy a horse from a dealer's stable, where he has been 
idly fattening for sale for many a day, and immediately to 
give him a long run after the hounds, and then to complain 
bitterly that he has been imposed upon if the animal is ex- 
hausted before the end of the chase, or is compelled to be led 
home, suffering from violent inflammation. Regular and 
gradually-increasing exercise would have made the same 
horse appear a treasure to his owner. 

"Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age of 
the horse. A young horse requires more than an old one. 
Nature has given to young animals of every kind a disposi- 
tion to activity ; but the exercise must not be violent. A 
great deal depends upon the manner in which it is given. 
To preserve the temper and to promote health, it should be 
moderate at least at the beginning and the termination. The 
rapid trot, or even the gallop, may be resorted to in the middle 
of the exercise, but the horse should be brought in cool. If 
the owner would seldom intrust his horse to boys, and would 
insist on the exercise being taken in sight or in the neighbor- 
hood of his residence, many an accident and irreparable injury 
would be avoided. It should be the owner's pleasure, and 
it is his interest, personally to attend to all these things. lie 
manages every other part of his concern, and he may depend 
on it he suffers when he neglects or is, in a manner, excluded 
from his stables." 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING ETC. 435 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 

If the relative importance of the ditferent branches of our 
subject had alone decided tlie arrangement of this volume, 
this chapter might properly liave been placed at the very be- 
ginning of our work. We have here to consider not merely 
the birth of the young animal, but, likewise, all the circum- 
stances having a bearing upon that event, and then to trace 
the history of the colt onward to his years of strength and 
maturity. 

"We enter upon this portion of our task not without some 
misgivings. A mistake in this department would be more 
fatal, would do more harm, than a blunder almost anywhere 
else. Then, too, every novice in the business of stock-raising 
is satisfied that he knows pretty nearly all that is to be known 
concerning it, and can hardly be instructed in any particular. 
Next to politics, this subject is probably the most common 
topic of discussion among the majority of our farmers. Xor 
is the importance which they attach to it by any means an 
undue one. As a general rule, nothing can progress satisfac- 
torily or end well that does not begin aright. 

As man has taken this matter, as far as he can do it, out 
of the hands of the Creator, and has assumed to direct and 
control it, he should have the full benefit of all the light and 
experience which is attainable in regard to it. Doubtless 
our views will call forth some adverse criticism, and, in some 
quarters, perhaps strenuous opposition. Nevertheless, we pro- 
pose to state them fully and candidly, so that, while it is too 
much to expect that all will be convinced, no one need mis- 
understand upon what grounds our opinions arc based. The 
reason for the faith that is in us shall be given clearly, as it 
has been deduced from long observation and experience. 



436 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

In regard to breeding, many things in the customary sys 
tern of operations are objectionable in the extreme. The 
manner of waiting upon the horse upon occasions of his 
service to the mare, with a crowd of idle boys standing 
about, and an attendant to direct the horse's movements, 
merits the opprobrium of all right-thinking persons. It not 
only shocks every sense of propriety, but it is unnatural and 
injurious. The practice deserves universal execration. Other 
portions of the brute creation are allowed to choose their 
own times and seasons for copulation, and to conduct mat- 
ters in their own way, as they are abundantly able to do 
without any further guidance than the promptings of in- 
stinct alone. The horse should be privileged to enjoy the 
same freedom. 

In precise terms, both the horse and mare should be al- 
lowed to run together in the same field. This, of course, 
should be retired from the highway, in some pasture which 
may easily be selected, away from the usual routes of the pass- 
ers-by. Here the mare may be aiForded the pleasure of the 
horse's society for several days — a circumstance w^hich will 
be greatly to the advantage of both of them, and still more 
to their future progeny. 

There is a radical error in the prevalent mode of conduct- 
ing all these proceedings. We lay it down as an almost in- 
variable rule, that the foal will partake chiefly of the con- 
stitution and disposition of the sire, while his form and size 
is mainly derived from the dam. It is the operation of this 
law which indicates the necessity of other treatment in re- 
gard to the horse. There are, by far, too few horses kept as 
breeders, and they are taxed beyond all reason and decency. 
The horse is injured by being kept too close in a dark 
stable, without sufficient exercise in the open air and the 
range of the pasture ; and then, too, his stable-feed has a 
tendency to heat the blood, which is a condition that often 
affects the genital organs materially. Constant confinement 
renders his disposition tierce and intractable, and the depriva- 
tion of the daily society of the mare makes the matter still 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 437 

worse, 80 that when he is led out to meet her he is all of a 
frenzy and fever, and can hardly be controlled. This is all 
wrong, and would not occur were he in constant association 
with the other sex. He would, in that case, be much more 
docile, quiet, and manageable. As it is, he is by no means 
manifesting such • a disposition as is desirable for the ordi- 
nary purposes for which a horse is needed; yet this is the 
disposition that will be imparted to the foal. 

Another most serious error in the general practice at 
the present day has been already adverted to, and that is 
compelling the horse to serve too many mares. Not a few 
stallions in this country are forced to serve from sixty to 
seventy mares during the season of about three months, 
often being led out two or three times in the same day. No 
horse can be thus excessively taxed without manifest injury 
resulting therefrom. To discharge this duty regularly once 
a day is more than should be exacted from him. Every 
other day is as often as any horse is competent to meet 
these continuous demands. 

Here comes in the rule that every writer upon the horse reit- 
erates, and nearly every petty breeder thinks he knows all 
about, that " like produces like." It is unquestionably estab- 
lished that conception is the result of the mingling of cer- 
tain elements to which both animals contribute. It is prob- 
able that the seminal fluid of the horse forms the first sub- 
stance of the foetus, while a small particle of blood with the 
ovum of the mare communicates the principle of life. This 
is considered to be the case with all red blooded animals. 

It is a correct rule that to end well, any process must begin 
well ; and no one will dispute the statement that the su- 
perstructure can not be firm and strong unless the founda- 
tions upon which it rests have first been made the same. 
"With ordinary prudence and management a good begin- 
ning may reasonably be expected to make a good ending, 
but a bad beginning it will be exceedingly diflacult so to re- 
construct as to make it eventuate in success. Upon these 
principles, we repeat, do we base our objections to the un- 



438 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

natural and absurd practices which characterize the system 
commonly pursued by stock-raisers in relation to breeding. 
That system we regard as utterly ruinous to all prospects 
of future improvement; nay, more than this, as the actual 
cause of great deterioration, from one generation to another, 
of the American horse. 

We say, without fear of successful contradiction, that three 
times a week, or every other day, is as often as any horse 
sliould be permitted to serve a mare. Oftener than this, 
coition may be effected, it* is true, but the seminal fluid of 
the horse in such cases is thin and immature; and if a colt 
is produced at all, he will be almost sure to be big-boned, 
loose-jointed, of flabby, uncompact muscle, and with a feeble 
constitution. This is one main reason why only a few of 
the colts gotten by fine stallions are equally fine, some par- 
taking of his qualities scarcely at all, and the large ma- 
jority falling far below the standard of his own excellence. 
IS'o matter how favorable the condition of the mare may 
be, the foal gotten under such circumstances can not be 
expected to prove otherwise than a weak and feeble little 
creature. The condition of the dam will, doubtless, modify 
the application of these principles to some extent, but by 
no means sufiicient to disprove their general correctness. 
The few fine colts which the horse sires are the result of 
procreation when his vital and reproductive powers were 
mature and vigoi-ous. 

Were proper attention paid to this matter, failure to im- 
pregnate would occur much less frequently than it now does 
in the ordinary experience of stock-raisers; the object of 
copulation would be accomplished three times where, under 
the reverse circumstances, it is efiected once. 

The great obstacle to improvement in this department 
consists in the fact that, with few exceptions, the stallions 
kept for breeding purposes are in the hands of men whose 
sole object is to make money, and whose interest it is, there- 
fore, to have their horses serve as many mares as possible 
during the season. To most men of this clas« the future 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 439 

race of horses in general is a matter of small consideration. 
They arc quite satistied if they can find two or three colts 
with fine parts to parade before the public as specimens of 
the foal-getting qualities of their stock; and how industri- 
ously are ali such colts hunted up and decked ofl* for exhi- 
bition at the county fairs ! What does many a groveling 
fellow, who has adopted the profession of a horse-keeper, 
care for the general improvement of the race if he can, by 
any means, no matter how unfairly, keep up the reputation 
of his horse sufiiciently to secure a liberal patronage the 
next season ! What cares he so long as he can scrape to- 
gether a few more of the almighty dollars, notwithstanding 
the community be imposed upon, and the next generation 
of horse-flesh be ever so much cursed by these excesses ! 
The system is wrong from first to last — a blight and mildew 
upon one of the most important interests of agriculturists 
and the public generally. 

But what shall be done to get rid of this nuisance — this 
imposition? Customs so firmly rooted are not easily broken 
up, and yet these pernicious practices may be done away with, 
if the mass of farmers were firm in their determination upon 
this point. Let neighborhood meetings be called, and reso- 
lutions be passed, fixing a rule in regard to this matto'-, and 
a committee appointed to see that it is carried out as faith- 
fully as possible ; or the same action may be taken at the 
meetings of farmers' clubs, where such exist. There ought 
to be a State' enactment to prevent the abuses referred to ; 
but this is not to be hoped for. 

We have conversed with large numbers of the successful 
stock-raisers of Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, and have 
found a general coincidence in the views here expressed. 
Many of them, indeed, have condemned the unnatural prac- 
tice of exacting from the horse such excessive services with 
the utmost severity. Among this intelligent class it is not 
uncommon for a gentleman to keep a horse of his own to 
serve his own mares and, perhaps, a few others. Sometimes, 
a few farmers club together, and raise a joint fund for the 



440 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

purchase of a first-class horse. This is a very excelloQl 
plan, deserving a much wider adoption than at present. 

In dismissing this subject, we wish to impress upon the 
minds of all interested in it the importance of this general 
rule : that no horse should be compelled to repeat his service 
more than twenty times during the season, and never oftener 
than every other day. Every farmer is doing an injury to 
his stock and to his own pecuniary interests, when he per- 
mits any serious departure from this regulation. The adop- 
tion of the rule here specified would make it perfectly proper 
to charge increased rates for the season or by insurance. It 
would be greatly to the advantage of the farmer to pay even 
double the rate now asked, and get a colt worth double the 
common run. 

THE HORSE AND HIS QUALITIES. 

The qualities of the sire, of more importance than all others, 
are his capabilities of endurance and kindliness of disposi- 
tion. The former depend mainly upon soundness of wind, 
compactness of muscle, and proper form. His limbs should 
not be too long, but trim and clean, and his joints round and 
well set. The hips are the most essential points to be looked 
at in regard to the horse, as in them and in his hind limbs 
lies his great power. But the shoulders must not be neg- 
lected; they should be broad, not high and sharp, but round 
over the top. 

For the average farm horse of this country, about sixteen 
hands is the most desirable height. Much above or below 
this standard is objectionable. A horse, with full form and 
well-developed muscle, it is preferable to have below rather 
than above sixteen hands high. The color of the hair is an 
indication of some importance. A deep dark bay is the best 
color for strength and endurance, and generally the most 
desirable qualities as regards disposition. The iron-gray is 
the next, then the black, and, as the shades grow more and 
more light, they become increasingly objectionable. What- 
ever the color of the horse, the mane and tail should be 
darker than the hair of the body. Beware of that horse 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 441 

with dark hair and light mane and tail. Fine, short hair 
betokens fine blood, and coarse, long hair the reverse; yet 
there are some breeds of horses with long hair and totally 
lacking any signs of fine blood, that undoubtedly possess 
great powers of endurance. 

j^o stallion should be regularly used for breeding purposes 
until he is four years old. At the age of three, two or three 
mares may be put to him for the purpose of testing his qual- 
ities as a foal-getter; but not more than this number, since 
very few horses will pass inspection when so young. If his 
stock is passable at this age, he will do to keep as a stallion. 
His colts will improve until six, and then remain good until 
he is ten, after which, in the majority of cases, he begins to 
deteriorate as a foal-getter. A horse that has served but 
twenty mares each season will ordinarily last until he is 
twenty quite as well as will another, of whom treble this 
amount of duty has been exacted, until he is ten or twelve. 
Excessive service in this line will impair the powers of the 
horse sooner than any other circumstances. 

It is the true policy of every large stock-raiser to have a 
stallion of his own. If this is too expensive, let several join 
together, aud either select one of their best colts or purchase 
one for this purpose. One or two of their best mares may 
be put to a choice horse under favorable circumstances, and 
the colt reared for this especial service. Such combinations 
would greatly improve the stock in any neighborhood, in 
the course of a few years, and do away with the impositions 
now so common. 

In our country the stallions are generally very good. The 
selection is usually made from the best colts, and nearly all 
of them, when not abused by excessive service, produce very 
good foals. There is no fault here, but in the ignorant and 
destructive policy of their owners. 

Except in the way of general directions, not much can be 
said in regard to the selection of a particular horse from 
which to breed. The owner of an entire horse generally has 
the pedigree and qualities of the animal published, aud, in 



442 



AMEBIC AN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



\ '"I 




BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 



443 



most cases, quite truthfull v. Most horses breed best for some 
especial service. If the colt is designed for farm use, it is 
advisable to put the mare to a farm horse ; if for the car- 
riage or saddle, she should be bred to a stallion of superior 
adaptation for one or the other purpose. A horse for rapid 
motion should possess very different parts from the farm 




THE BYERLT TUEK. 



horse. The saddle and carriage horse should be of the same 
mold — light and free of limb, with a height of not more than 
fifteen hands and a half. The farm horses may be of larger 
limb, heavier build, and stand somewhat higher. 



THE MAKE — HER QUALITIES AND TREATMENT. 

Of no less importance is it to understand the qualities and 
capabilities of the mare than those of the horse. Difficulties 
exist in her case no less than in his, and practical directions 



444 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

are needed in both. A proper understanding of the faults 
and deficiencies of the mare, which vary very much from 
those of the stallion, is of vital consequence to the breeder. 

Every farmer knows that one of the prerequisites of a 
good crop is a fertile, productive soil. Now, the mare may 
be compared to the soil in which the seed is cast, and it is 
nearly as reasonable to expect a poor soil to produce a full, 
prolific crop, as a poor, worn-out mare to bring a large, 
plump, and healthy colt. 

Two principal characteristics are required to constitute the 
mare a good breeder. The first is body, form — especially 
length between the hips and shoulders, to give room for the 
growth of the foetus without crowding the intestines, and also 
breadth, which may be determined by the width of the back 
and hips. A little, short mare, with a peaked back and hips, 
and narrow, tucked- up belly, can never make a good breeder. 

The second essential is vitality. Many large mares arc 
found to be deficient in this particular. A small mare often 
possesses more spirit and activity, a greater share of vital 
energy and endurance, than one that is larger. Some mares 
are very dull and stupid, and sluggish in all their motions. 
This may be remedied, to some extent, by securing the op- 
posite qualities in the horse, selecting one that has more 
than an average degree of life and action. On the other 
hand, if the dam is full of animation, the sire should be one 
remarkable for mildness and docility rather than otherwise. 

As regards form and size, opposite qualities should be 
paired, as a general rule. If the mare is small, the horse 
should be of full size. If the former is of large or medium 
size, the latter may be somewhat less. But in no case should 
the mare of any size be bred to a very small horse, unless it 
is desired to perpetuate the pony breed. 

Mention has already been made of the benefit to be derived 
from permitting the association of the mare with the horse 
for several days. It is of more advantage, in fact, to the 
dam than to the sire. The instincts of Nature will decide 
the proper period for coition, which will be that most favor- 



BEEEDING, STOCK-EAISING, ETC. 445 

able for developing the germ of the new life. As matters 
are usually managed, the case is often far otherwise. One 
time of the mare's meeting the horse, or once in nine days 
for a few weeks, is not what Nature designed, and the cus- 
tomary hurry is really detrimental to her. The wistful look 
which she casts behind her as she is led away, indicates 
plainly enough her pining for a little further companion- 
ship. 

If well grown, the mare may commence breeding at three 
years of age ; but if she is still immature, it will be much 
better to wait a year longer. Some persons are accustomed 
to put the two-year old filly to a horse. This is wholly 
wrong, for at this age she is not qualified to breed at all 
satisfactorily. It seriously retards her own growth, and may 
greatly mar her form and beauty, while the effect upon her 
spirits is still worse. She will always be dull and heavy. 

As a general rule, it is not best to continue breeding from 
the mare after she is ten or twelve years of age. Some will 
breed successfully a few years longer, while others at that 
age have already past their best days. Those that bring a 
colt every jear fail the most rapidly, they which possess but 
little apparent vitality breaking down early. It requires a 
nice discrimination to determine exactly when to cease breed- 
ing from the mare ; but it will be better to stop a year too 
soon than to continue too long. 

The question of feeding the mare while with foal is one 
of the first importance. Here, emphatically, does the axiom 
apply that " like produces like." The soil must be rich, 
proper supplies of nutrition must be afforded the growing 
crop, and judicious care and cultivation must be bestowed, 
or a bountiful harvest can not be expected. The mare must 
receive the feed and attention which her condition demands, 
or it is unreasonable to look for a fine colt. We make or 
mar the latter by the treatment extended the mother. Many 
a fine mare, bred to a horse equally good, has produced but 
an inferior offspring, owing to bad management during the 
period of gestation ; and, on the other hand, many a common 



446 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

filly has raised a fine colt when she has been well fed and 
attended to. 

A poor, half-starved mare will bring a puny weakling into 
the world. The physical condition of the colt depends upon 
that of the mother. Not only does he derive from her the 
principle of life, but the conduct of the vital processes in 
her constitute the agencies which mold his entire bodily or- 
ganism — bone, sinew, tendon, muscle, and all. The health 
of the mother can not be affected without corresponding 
detriment to the foetus. It is through the medium of her 
disrestion and circulation that the latter is nourished and ma- 
tured. If she is well fed, the colt receives his share of the 
benefit, and if she is impoverished, the colt will be the same. 

To feed the mare with foal upon strong, heating diet is a 
great mistake. What she needs is moist, nutritious food, 
such as can be easily digested and will keep the bowels loose. 
In Avinter-time, or at any other season when she is steadily 
worked, chopped feed, with provender, is the best. In no 
case let her be gorged with corn ; but it will be no harm 
to give her sparingl}' of corn-meal, as provender, made moist 
and thoroughly soaked. If it is in time of pasture, she will 
need no other feed. In the latter months of gestation the 
food may be increased. She requires more at this period, 
having both the foal and herself to support, and the former 
now draws heavily upon the mother for his sustenance; yet, 
while she should never be allowed to fall off and become 
poor, a very full, plethoric condition is decidedly objectionable. 
In fact, it is still more hazardous to her than the reverse. 

Concerning the qualities of the feed, too great care is im- 
possible. At this time, of all others, the food should be 
pure, nutritious, and wholesome. Moldy hay c»r fodder, or 
injured grain, should be scrupulously excluded from her diet. 
Possibly the mother might resist its injurious effects, but the 
foal must inevitably sufifer, and might be ruined entirely. 
Thousands of colts are brought into the world in a diseased 
condition, induced by the unhealthy food upon which the 
mother has been compelled to sustain the lives of both. 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 447 

Another consideration of importance is ' the amount of 
labor the mare may perform. It is better for lier to do light 
work, at least up to within seven or eight weeks of foaling, 
at which time she should be relieved of all service, unless it 
be some occasional mild exercise. She should, also, about 
this time, be removed from other animals, that she may not 
be injured by them. At no period should she be assigned 
any very hard labor, or be subjected to severe strains. As 
she nears the time of foaling, she should be kept where she 
can be easily watched, so that if any difficulty arises during 
parturition assistance may be rendered promptly. 

During the time of suckling, the mare should receive the 
best of attention. Her food should be 
generous, wholesome, and abundant. 
It should never escape the mind of her 
keeper that she now has two lives to 
support, and the tax upon her which 
the colt's necessities occasion is very 
great. Occasionally, a bran- mash may 
be given — rye-bran, if it can be obtained ; and at all times 
plenty of chopped feed, good sweet hay, and oats will be 
just the diet for her. But abstain from feeding her any 
corn. If pasture can be procured, she will do better on this 
than upon any thing else. As feeding the mare is feeding 
the colt also, nothing should be allowed her that can injure 
the latter, as some articles of food or medicine may do 
without seriously affecting the stronger organism of the 
mother. 

After thirty days, if she is again in season, the mare may 
once more be put to the horse, if the owner is determined 
to have her bring a colt every year. But to this there is 
a grave objection. In all of the animal creation, a state 
of pregnancy injuriously affects the character of the milk 
afforded the suckling offspring. Better colts can be raised 
by breeding the mare only every second 3'ear. 

The labor of the mother should be quite light, beginning 
not before a month or six weeks after foaling. Except for 




448 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

specially urgent reasons, the colt should never be prevented 
from running with the mother. 

THE COLT AND HIS TREATMENT. 

If the foal is sound and healthy, he will need no especial 
attention until the time of weaning, which will generally be 
at the end of about six months. , But upon this point no 
arbitrary limitation can be established. The condition and 
developments of the colt must determine this matter. If the 
youngster is thin and weakl}^, he should be allowed to re- 
main with the dam for a month or two longer, and in 
extreme cases even more than this. Fall colts should always 
be allowed the mother's milk till the grass comes in the 
spring. Many fall colts are weaned too soon, and they nearly 
perish during the barrenness and inclemency of winter. This 
mistaken practice seems to be the real origin of the common 
belief that the fall colt is not so good as the one foaled in 
spring. It is impossible that he should be, under such mis- 
management; for the rigor of winter is more than the young 
creature is able to bear when left to shift for himself. Let 
him be allowed the help of the mother's milk until the young 
grass of spring aftbrds him a suitable substitute. If this is 
done, he will often be found in advance of the yearling that 
has been fed during the winter. 

At weaning-time the colt should be entirely removed from 
the sight and hearing of the mare. By this course she will 
soon become reconciled to her loss, whereas, if he is allowed 
to remain near her, she will continue to fret under the sepa- 
ration, and will be troublesome. 

Now comes the important matter of feeding and rearing 
the colt, second not even to that of the care of the dam be- 
fore his birth. The young animal will be pretty much what 
we choose to make him by our treatment. Fewer ordinary 
colts, by far, would be found if all of them received proper 
attention, which is not generally the case in our country, i 
Too often the young creature is the victim of cruel neglect 
and hardships — compelled to stand out in the open field, by 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 449 

Bome hay-staek or straw-rick; or, perhaps, without any shel- 
ter whatever to protect him from the biting frosts, the bleak 
winds, the driving sleet, and the deep snows of winter; and 
frequently with nothing to support life but corn-stalk fodder, 
or the scanty amount of food pulled from the hay-stack. 
Under such usage he barely survives the winter, and starts 
with the spring a poor, emaciated, broken-down starveling, 
destitute of all spirit and vigor. His vital energies have re- 
ceived a shock from which they will never wholly recover. 

Such is the history of thousands of colts all over the land. 
In many sections the farmer seems to know no better than 
to believe that colts and calves require no housing during 
the winter, when the fact is that they are the ones most of 
all among the farmer's stock that need such shelter. The 
strong, hardy horse could bear these exposures much better; 
but it is not he that is turned out to the weather — it is the 
young, tender colt, inured to no hardships, and quite unfitted 
to brave the storm and cold, that is compelled to undergo 
this unfeeling treatment. If stable-room is deficient, make 
a shelter of some kind for some of the other stock, and let 
the colt have the vacated stall. One winter's severe exposure 
is equivalent to the loss of a year's growth. The colt be- 
comes unthrifty and in bad plight, and shows want of spirit 
and activity; whereupon the farmer complains that he has 
been disappointed in that colt ; that the stock is not what he 
supposed it to be, with more language of the same sort; and 
all the while the colt is good enough, the stock all that he 
ever imagined it to be, and the fault lies wholly with him- 
self. He seems to have forgotten that the limit of the en- 
durance belonging to colt-flesh is soon reached, and really 
ought to wonder that the poor thing has lived at all. 

It is all-important that the colt " get no backset " after 
iveaning-time. N"othing will pay the owner better than kind, 
generous attention to his growing stock. The young animal 
needs it now; his flesh and skin are tender; his bones and 
joints are still soft and unformed, and exposure at this 
period often works irreparable mischief. The joints are af- 
29 



450 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

fected, growing unnaturally large and stiff, so that he moves 
heavily, and with lack of suppleness. "What he loses at this 
time no subsequent care can entirely make up, while with 
the treatment he is likely to receive from such an owner he 
can never be other than an inferior animal. Many of the 
diseases that develop in after years to the horse's ruin have 
their foundations laid by mismanagement during colthood. 
There are vastly more horses with stiff limbs and spiritless, 
heavy movement, whose condition is referable to this cause 
alone, than one farmer in fifty is willing to believe. It will 
cost less to put up a stable sufficient to accommodate six 
colts, than the loss, in a single winter, upon one good colt 
that is left out in the weather to shift for himself. 

Along with housing comes another consideration of the 
highest importance — feeding the colt. The pasture is em- 
phatically the home for him, so that while it lasts there need 
be no further trouble upon this head. But in winter let 
every colt have his separate stall in a dry, warm stable, with 
good bedding and all the attention, in respect to rubbing and 
currying, that is bestowed upon the full-grown horse. His 
diet should be a mild and generous one, suited to his young 
and tender state. Let the owner be chary of giving much 
dry food. Chopped feed, moistened, is more necessary for 
the colt than for even the mature horse. A bran-mash should 
be given him as often as once or twice a week regularly. 

This seems to be an appropriate place for considering the 
question of "inherited diseases," concerning which so much 
has been said and written. English veterinarians have pa- 
raded this subject before the public to an extent that, to our 
thinking, is absolutely ridiculous. According to them, every 
disease of the parents will be transmitted to the colt, who 
will be afilicted with the infirmities of both. Says Youatt, 
judicious an author as he generally is : " There is scarcely 
a disease by which either of the parents is affected that the 
foal does not inherit, or at least show a predisposition to. 
Even the consequences of ill-usage or hard work will descend 



BKEEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 451 

to the progeny. There has been proof npon proof that blind- 
ness, roaring, thick wind, broken wind, spavin, curb, ring- 
bone, and founder have been bequeathed to their oflspring 
both by the sire and the dam." 

"Whatever may be the case in England it is not thus in our 
countr3^ Rarely, indeed, do American farmers attempt to 
breed from such stock, although they may, perhaps, do so in 
exceptional instances, where it is the mare that is diseased — 
not once in a thousand times, however, from an unsound 
horse ; and even were this end sought, it is our opinion that 
few American horses, of either sex, would breed when dis- 
eased to such an extent as to transmit their maladies to their 
offspring. 

Nor do we believe that hereditary disease is of nearly so 

frequent occurrence in England as the books would persuade 

us. The disorders called such are, for the most part, such as 

1 the low, damp, dark stables of their great cities, in which 

j they are often built under ground, would naturally give rise 

' to; and here, in all probability, is one great source of mis- 

' chief in the large majority of cases. Then the mistreatment 

i of the mare Avhile with foal, together with the unkind and 

irrational neglect of the colt after weaning, is a prolific cause 

I of those ailments and infirmities to which the first years of 

' the horse's life are subject, and many of which cling to him 

until the day of his death. Few foals make their advent 

I into the world otherwise than in at least a tolerably sound 

^ condition, unless abuse of the mare during gestation has be- 

i gotten some innate weakness or other, when neglect, expos- 

lure and abuse will rapidly do the rest in developing disease 

''. in the young animal. 

] Even the hereditary character of certain disorders in the 
■ human being is, perhaps, less firmly established than is com- 
monly asserted; but, however this may be, the so-called 
law has so many exceptions when attempted to be applied 
'to the horse,' that one can hardly help pronouncing it in- 
operative in his case. Some of the finest colts we ever knew 



452 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

have been raised by feeble mares, although such can scarcely 
be considered the rule. 

Highly as we esteem many of the authorities that upon 
this point are against us, still we are compelled to dissent 
from the sweeping assertions that most of them put forth in 
regard to the dangers of transmitting disease from one gen- 
eration of the horse to another. Our concern for the future 
of his race in America is, we confess, by no means an anx- 
ious one, so far as this subject bears upon it. 

CROSSING. 

A judicious and restricted system of crossing may be of 
great advantage to our future stock of horses; but a promis- 
cuous, unguarded one will prove its ruin. The practice of 
breeding in-and-in, using the term in its most restricted sense, 
has been proven, by the past history of the horse, to be detri- 
mental to such an extent as to prove absolutely ruinous. 
"Wliat we mean, in this connection, by breeding in-and-in, is 
to continue breeding together members of the same family — 
blood relations, in fact. There may be many families of the 
same race, and still no known blood connection exist between 
them. Oar strictures must not be understood to mean that 
Andalusian may not be bred with AndaUisian, Arabian with 
Arabian, or the pony with the pony; but they do mean to 
condemn, most emphatically, the practice of breeding within 
the limits of near relationship — such as mother and son, 
brother and sister, and the like. Where such relationships 
are known to exist, the intelligent breeder will carefully 
avoid permitting any connection. 

Any race of horses may be perpetuated in its purity, and 
even improved, by bringing together remote families of that 
race, and then practicing a judicious system of crossing among 
them. These are the means by which the Arabs of the des- 
ert maintain the wonderful superiority of their steeds ; and 
the instincts of Nature have performed a similar service for 
the wild horse of the plains, which is of Spanish origin, and 
for the ponies of the Indians. We must enter our protest 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 453 

against the crossing of races very dissimilar in forrL, size, and 
habits. The Indian pony may be bred to the finest horse in 
the country, even the imported Arabian, and the colt will be 
but a scrub, having fcAV or none of the good qualities of 
either sire or dam. All subsequent combinations of the same 
sort will sink below the standard of even the first cross. 

The art of successful crossing consists, mainly, in bringing 
together distinct families of the same race, but of some- 
what contrasted forms and sizes. The mare elevates or de- 
presses the race above or below the standard of the horse 
according as her qualities are superior to his or the reverse. 
The nearer the mare is to the horse in all essential qualities, 
the nearer will be the colt. If she is superior to the horse, 
she will generally produce oflspring of the same relative char- 
acter, though more or less inferior to herself. On the other 
hand, if the horse be the superior animal, the foal will be 
also, but not so good as his sire. 

This is the general rule, which only holds good, however, 
when the horse breeds his own stock and qualities. Some- 
times he breeds back to several generations previous, and 
this may occur when the older stock is either better or worse 
than himself. Where the mingled qualities of several races 
exist in the horse, one of them often greatly predominates in 
the foal. There can be no certainty in breeding from a horse 
of this character, unless some particular blood is known to 
predominate in his case to begin with. In regard to the 
mare, we may judge with more accuracy; her size, form, 
plight, etc., will indicate pretty clearly the kind of a colt we 
'are going to obtain. 

The law of compensation, so much dwelt upon by many 
writers, we regard as of but doubtful, or, at least, partial, 
application in respect to the horse. It is from this rule, so- 
called, that the practice is derived of meeting the deficient 
parts or qualities of either parent by superior excellence in 
the same points in the other. For instance, if the mare be 
|fanlty as to breadth of chest, the horse, it is said, should be 
•particularly well-developed in that regard; if the horse be 



454 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

coarse-limbed, the mare should be clean of limb and supple 
jointed; and so with other points in the structure of either. 
No doubt this notion is correct to some extent, but the 
limits of those conditions within which it may be acted upon 
with definite certainty as to results are exceedingly circum- 
scribed. No seriously defective mare will bring a fine colt, 
let the excellence of the horse be what it may. It is only 
the fine mare, of superior size, mold, and condition, that can 
be expected to bring a first-class colt. Such mares, and no 
others, should be selected for the purpose of raising colts ; 
and if any others are permitted to breed at all, they should 
be put to the jack, in which case they may do pretty well in 
keeping up the stock-raiser's supply of mule colts. 

CASTKATING. 

In relation to the age of the colt at which this operation 
should be performed there is a great diversity of opinion, 
even among experienced horsemen. The limits range all 
the way between the age of four months and two years, both 
which extremes, as well as all intermediate periods, have 
been advised in different cases. These differences are ar- 
ranged with reference to certain physical developments of 
the colt, which are deemed essential to qualify him for the 
duties to which he is to be assigned at maturity. Thus, some 
writers tell us that the colt designed for the carriage or 
heavy draught should not be cut until he is two or three 
times older than his companion that is destined to the com- 
mon purposes of the farm. 

Our own opinion is that castration should always be per- 
formed very early ; in fact, that it should very rarely be de- 
ferred to even the age of four months, the minimum limit as 
now usually established. We are satisfied that, in the case 
of pigs, lambs, and calves, at least, this operation can hardly 
be attended to too early, and analogy would seem to indicate 
the propriety of the same course with the colt. With the 
beginning of the latter's second year, his pubescence is at- 
tained. Often before the close of the first year his actions 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 455 

manifest tbe effects of tlie growth of the genital organs, and 
the longer their removal is deferred the greater becomes the 
danger. 

During the months of suckling, these parts, as well as the 
arteries that supply them with blood, are quite diminutive, 
the vessels will bleed but little when severed, and the sensi- 
bility to pain will be comparatively small. At this period, 
then, castration will not cause much suffering ; it will be at- 
tended with but little loss of blood, and no clamps or searing 
will be needed. The application of a little fine salt and tur- 
pentine will remedy the evil effects of the operation ; and 
any one that is competent to undertake the castration of a 
lamb or pig can be safely trusted to geld the young colt. 
At this age, too, the latter can be handled with perfect ease, 
and without running those risks of injuring him that ac- 
company the act of throwing the larger animal, preparatory 
to castration. 

Those who oppose the practice of cutting so early base 
their objections chiefly upon the statements that the colts 
gelded so young do not make as well-developed and fine, 
spirited horses as if they were allowed to remain entire some 
time longer. But if the objector is asked to specify to what 
extent his own experience and observation as a stock -raiser 
corroborate these views, he is generally at a loss for any sat- 
isfactory answer. He will tell you that such is the prevail- 
ing opinion among most of his acquaintances ; but they derive 
their belief from the opinions of others still; and so it runs 
back like a confused tradition, having its origin no one 
knows where. So far as the question of spirit is concerned, 
the entire horse shows no great excess of that quality save 
as he is prompted by his amorous propensities. When brought 
down to ordinary work, or used under the saddle, an old 
stallion is one of the most stupid, spiritless creatures in the 
world. 

Another objection sometimes urged against the course we 
have recommended is the difliculty of selecting from the very 
young colts those which it would be best to retain for stall- 



456 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

ions. Many persons seem to think that this is a question which 
can not be decided until the colts are so well grown that 
their size and form are fully determined, whereas it is one 
that ought, in great measure, at least, to have been settled 
before the foal was born, by such considerations as the blood 
and qualities of the parents of each. 

The teachings of our own observation, though it is some- 
what limited, are decidedly in favor of very early castration. 
"We can recall a number of cases in which it formed no draw- 
back to a perfect physical development and the possession of 
a rare combination of excellence in the mature horse. In 
these views we are sustained by the opinions of many most 
judicious and highly-successful breeders, with whom we have 
discussed the subject. English veterinarians seem more and 
more inclined to favor the same practice, some of them ex- 
pressing the opinion quite emphatically that in no case should 
castration be deferred beyond the weaning-time of the colt, 
as the mother's milk acts as a great preventive of inflamma- 
tion and fever. 

Much perplexity and some trouble is often encountered 
by inexperienced operators in castrating young colts, from 
the difficulty of finding the testicle, which has not yet de- 
scended into the scrotum from within the abdomen, where 
its place is during the foetal life, and for some time after- 
ward. In some colts they always remain there, but usually 
drop down into the scrotum between the agfes of one and 
two years. No embarrassment need be caused by not finding 
the testicle just where it was expected to be. Let the operator 
find the orifice just in front, through the lining of the belly, 
and trace back the clue thus obtained to the testicle itself, 
as he can readily do. This orifice is already sufficiently large 
to allow of his bringing down the testicle, which is about two 
inches within the orifice, either with the two fore-fingers or 
by using an iron spoon, bent forward near the handle and 
wrapped around with cloth. After the precise location of 
the testicle has been discovered, this instrument will readily 
scoop it out. 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 457 

Castration is not only more difficult but is also more dan- 
gerous as the colt grows older, and especially after the tes- 
ticles, having descended into the scrotum, have attained a 
considerable size. The weight of the bowels, combined with 
the struggles of the animal, and his springing about after- 
ward, is often sufficient to produce hernia, or rupture, thus 
ruining hira forever, if not putting an end to his life at once. 
The dangers of hemorrhage and inflammation are also greatly 
increased. 

The latter part of April or the beginning of May, when 
there is plenty of fresh young grass to be had, is the best 
time for attending to this matter. Fall colts should remain 
till the early part of October, or until the hot season is past. 
If there is any danger of the fly, a little turpentine may be 
mixed with fine salt and applied to the wound, which will 
eflfectually deliver him from those torments, and cause no 
great amount of suftering. It will also tend to heal the parts 
rather than otherwise. If cold rains come on while the colt is 
still sore, both he and the dam should be comfortably stabled. 

In all parts of the country there are persons who follow 
this business, and whose services may readily be procured 
if the farmer desires them. This will be the best and safest 
course when the operation has been delerred until late. 

The operation by torsion, as it is called, introduced into 
England rather more than one-third of a century ago, prob- 
ably forms the mode of castration preferable to any other, 
especially if the colt has attained many months' growth. It 
is thus described by Youatt : 

"An incision is made into the scrotum as in the other 
modes of operation, and the vas deferens is exposed and di- 
vided. The artery is then seized by a pair of forceps con- 
trived for the purpose, and twisted six or seven times round. 
It retracts as soon as the hold on it is quitted, the coils are 
not untwisted, and all bleeding has ceased. The testicle is 
removed, and there is no sloughing or danger. The most 
painful part of the operation — the application of the firing- 
iron or the clams — is avoided, and the wound readily heals." 



458 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



The practice of twitching, resorted to by some as i means 
of shirking a disagreeable job, is an outrage and barbarity. 
It consists in tying a small cord around the bag, so as to de- 
stroy the circulation, tightening it, if necessary, and letting it 
remain thus until the scrotum, with all its contents, drops 
oft'. Not only are the sufferings occasioned by this disgrace- 
ful and slovenly method extremely severe, but inflammation 
and death often ensue. 

THE MULE. 




The business of raising mules has become an extensive 
and important interest in our country. In Kentucky and 

Tennessee immense numbers 
are reared every year for 
the Southern market. They 
have been found much better 
suited to the requirements of 
the cotton plantations than 
horses. They work freer and 
with less trouble, are more 
hardy, stand the climate bet- 
ter, and are not so easily af- 
fected by the neglect and cruelty of the negroes and others 




• BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 459 

who use them. On the score of economy, also, they deserve 
all the favor that has been awarded them in those sections, 
and vastly more tha-n they commonly receive at the North. 
The mule does not. eat more than from one-half to three- 
fifths as much as the horse, which, when feed is high, is an 
item of importance. 

Though not wholly exempt from disease, the mule is in- 
comparably a healthier animal than the horse, particularly 
on the Southern plantations, where most of the latter race 
were originally brought from other latitudes. As to his ca- 
pabilities for service, not only is he the equivalent of horse- 
power, but he will last more than double the number of 
years that his more pretentious congener will. The aver- 
age period of service of the horse is about ten years, begin- 
ning at the age of three, and, although some horses last 
considerably longer than this, there are quite as many that 
fail before completing their thirteenth year. The average 
period of service of the mule is nearly, or quite, twenty-five 
years. He sometimes begins to fail at twenty years old, and 
in other cases remains as good as ever until nearly thirty. 
Few of his race are worth much after that age. One mule, 
then, in his lifetime, will ordinarily do the work of more 
than two horses, at an expense each year of from thirty-five 
to fifty per cent, less in keeping. 

Another important consideration is, that the mule thrives 
best on dry feed and grain unground. How far otherwise 
it is with the horse our reiterations have already acquainted 
the reader in the preceding chapters. The horse's feed should 
be all chopped or ground ; his diet should be light and moist ; 
and corn is unquestionably injurious to him, especially when 
he has to bite it from the cob. Just the reverse of all thia 
suits the mule best. Corn, which is his favorite food, never 
appears to have any ill-eftects upon his system, and nothing 
is better adapted to his needs than dry hay, if it be good 
and sweet. This is an item of some consequence when the 
saving of the miller's toll — never less than one-eighth — aid 
the time and labor of going to mill are all reckoned uj:. It 



460 . AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

wijl make the aggregate difference between the horse s keep- 
ing and that of the mute hardly ever less than one-half. 

The cost of wintering a mule in 1860 was computed to be 
ten dollars less than that of a horse. In 1866 this must cer- 
tainly be increased to not less than fifteen dollars. In the 
former year there were about half a million of mules in the 
United States, whose employment, instead of horses, thus 
formed an aggregate saving to the country of five millions 
of dollars in the cost of wintering alone. This greatly su- 
perior economy attending the use of the mule, taken in con- 
nection with his readiness to labor, his comparative freedom 
from disease, and his double longevity, makes the calcula- 
tion largely in his favor as a trusty and valuable servant. 

There is also more certainty in breeding mules than horses. 
The mare is more likely to become with foal by a jack than 
by a horse, and the same proportion of 
accidents do not occur in her foaling. 
Every breeder knows how much less 
trouble it is to raise a mule colt than a 
horse. Another consideration of some 
weight is, that almost any scrub of a 
mare will bring nearly as good a mule 
colt as will one with the very best blood. The offspring 
may be small and compact, but he is none the less valuable 
on that account; and, in fact, some reasons really make him 
more desirable than many a larger animal — especially his 
greater hardiness and less expensiveness in keeping, from 
the fact that he eats so much less. 

A mare that has once brought a mule colt, should never 
afterward breed to the horse, as her progeny in the latter 
case will be noticeably inferior. By precisely what physiolo- 
gical laws this matter is governed can not be easily ex- 
plained, but the fact is indisputable. Fine blooded mares, of 
superior size and form, should always be bred to the horse, 
and all others that are bred from at all should be reserved 
for the purposes of mule-raising. 

Not only is the mule much better adapted than the horse 




BEEEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 461 

to the performance of the ordinary labors of the farm, but 
he does better in heavily-loaded wagons upon the road, and 
is especially preferable for the movement of machinery. Here 
his superior powers of endurance give him such an advantage, 
that in these services he will often last nearly as many years 
as the horse will months. 

One idea that used to be quite prevalent, and is still enter- 
tained by some, in regard to the mule, is very erroneous, and 
that is that he is never diseased. But that he is much less 
liable to disease than the horse is undeniably true, and a fact 
to which we are fully prepared to add our corroborative tes- 
timony, from a long experience with both. Yet we have 
known the mule to be afflicted with a large majority of thfe 
ailments to which horse-flesh is heir, and have had occasion 
to treat him for them. When the ravages of big head were 
at their highest in Western Tennessee and Northern Missis- 
sippi, during the years from 1848 to 1850, inclusive, thou- 
sands of mules in that region were numbered among its 
victims, and many similar cases occurred in other sections of 
the Southern States. We have repeatedly seen them suiFer- 
ing from spavin, ring-bone, narrow heel, founder, fistula, 
colic; diseases of the lungs, of the skin, of the glands of 
the throat, of the urinary organs, etc. Perhaps they are not 
much less subject than the horse to certain constitutional 
diseases, such as distemper, farc}^, and glanders. But even 
here one striking advantage remains with the mule — disease 
yields much more readily to treatment than when it attacks 
the horse. 

A very unjust prejudice against the mule exists in the 
minds of many, having its origin in the incorrect notion that 
the mingling of the blood of the horse and ass is prohibited 
in the Bible, in support of which view they quote the in- 
junction to the Jews, "Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender 
with a diverse kind." This precept is but a written inter- 
pretation of one of Nature's fundamental laws, yet it is by 
no means clear that these two animals are of types sc dis- 
similar as to come within its limitation. The genderir/g of 



462 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

totally diverse kinds, wherever attempted, has either been 
wholly unproductiye or has resulted in some monstrosity for 
a progeny. Such is not the case with the mule, though 
himself incapable of breeding, and this circumstance alone 
is a great argument in favor of his legitimacy in the animal 
creation. Judged by the test of usefulness and adaptability, 
the mule may claim a high rank among the domestic animals. 

That the Divine interdiction was not construed by the 
Jews in this restricted sense appears plainly from several 
references to the mule throughout the historical books of 
the Old Testament. For instance, when David, in the zenith 
of his power and glory, as king of Israel, commanded cer- 
tain of his attendants to " take with you the servants of 
your Lord, and cause Solomon, my son, to ride upon mine 
own mule, and bring him down to Gihon," it is evident that 
he intended a compliment and honor to the royal heir. And 
Solomon, in the height of his almost unexampled prosperity 
and glory, received "horses and mules" as tribute, among 
such costly articles as " vessels of silver, vessels of gold, gar- 
ments, spices," etc. It seems little likely that the inspired 
record would have such facts to recount had the ancient 
people of God understood that the very existence of the 
mule was due to the violation of an express command of the 
Divine law-giver. 

It is none of our business to enter upon a thorough dis- 
cussion of what was really intended by this prohibition. Our 
object is simply to exonerate and defend the much-abused 
and unjustly-despised mule, and to relieve the minds of the 
scrupulously conscientious of the fear that in breeding that 
useful servitor of man they are coming in conflict with the 
revealed will of the Creator. To our mode of thinking there 
can be no valid objection to breeding together the mare and 
jack, if it suits the interest and convenience of the farmer 
to do so. 

STOCK FARMS. 

Under this head we wish to embody a few general but 
highly-important directions in regard to the management 



BRKEDING, STOCK-RAISIls G, ETC. 463 

of those farms devoted principally, or partially, to the rear- 
ing of stock, so far as this subject relates to the horse and 
mule. 

It is a great fanlt on many farms of this character that 
there are no suitable buildings, or at least no sufficiency of 
them, for the shelter of stock, and especially of the young 
and growing colts. Such negligence is a great mistake, and 
one for which the farmer has to pay dearly in a pecuniary 
sense. It is almost as needful that his stock should be af- 
forded proper shelter from the storm and cold as that the 
hay and grain they eat should be well secured. The subject 
of stabling was considered in the last chapter at sufficient 
length for all the purposes necessary in this volume. 

But, in addition to dry and commodious stables for winter 
use, shelter should be provided sufficiently large to accom- 
modate all the young horses and mules during the cold rains 
and storms of the spring and fall season; and these should 
be either in the pasture itself or accessible from it. The 
size of the shelter should be proportioned, of course, to the 
number of animals to be accommodated. A shelter of 
twenty feet square will be large enough for twenty colts, 
if there be a partition run down the middle, as there al- 
ways should be. On each side of this ten can stand very 
comfortably. The construction of such a shelter is very 
simple, and need not be expensive. All that is required, in 
addition to a roof, set on posts eight feet high, and resting 
on large flat stones to keep them from the ground, will be 
an inclosure of the north and west sides with boards. A 
cheap substitute for the latter, and one that will last for sev- 
eral months, is a compact wall of good wheat or rye straw, 
straight and strong, bound up in long, continuous sheaves or 
layers, set perpendicularly, and secured within two or three 
boards placed horizontally and fastened to the posts. The 
division through the center should consist of a rack to hold 
hay or straw, and when the grass begins to fail late in the fall, 
or before it has grown much in early spring, a supply of these 
articles of fodder should be kept in it, so that the colts may 



464 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

be fed here as well as sheltered. Troughs should be arranged 
tinder the racks, to put other feed in when the colts may re- 
quire it. 

It will here be proper again to call the attention of the 
practical stock-raiser to the diseased condition that so often 
characterizes the colt's mouth, as a consequence of teething. 
Perhaps the best place to give the young animal the rem- 
edies that will correct this state will be right here in these 
feeding-troughs. The shabby plight of many a colt proceeds 
from indigestion, caused and kept up by the soreness and in- 
flammation of the mouth and gums. Good wood ashes, with 
plenty of salt, kept constantly in the feeding-troughs, will 
have the happiest effect in abating the evils referred to, and 
in mitigating the sufferings of colthood. Sulphur, also, may 
be used in the same way with very marked benefit. Not only 
is it worth a thousand times its cost, as a preventive of dis- 
ease, but it will effectually destroy and keep away vermin of 
every description. 

On many farms there exists a great lack of shade-trees, 
not a few pastures being totally destitute of them, and this 
is another most weighty reason for the erection of such 
shelters as we have described. It is absolutely essential to 
the comfort and well-being of stock, especially of the colts, 
that they have some cool retreat under which to retire from 
the burning rays of our midsummer and dog-day suns; and 
where there are no trees to afford a natural shade, an arti- 
ficial substitute for them becomes a necessary appendage 
upon every well-regulated stock farm. 

Shade-trees are the beauty and blessing of the pasture, 
and there will be a very perceptible difference in the fall 
between the appearance of a colt that runs in a well-shaded 
pasture and that of another which has no shelter from the 
noon-day heats. The young animal can not be continually 
exposed to the down-pouring of the sun's fierce rays, through 
the hottest months of the year, without suffering plainly 
from debility and depression. One of the first things to be 
done in a new pasture, if shade is unfortunately lacking in 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 465 

it, is to take measures at ouce to supply the deflcieucj. Trees 
should be set out in difierent parts of the field, reference be- 
ing had to convenience of location, character of the soil, and 
other circumstances that the intelligent farmer will not be 
likely to overlook. The preferable tree for the pasture is the 
black locust. It will grow very thrifty on even a poor, rocky 
point ; it bears a large sweet blossom, which, as well as the 
leaves, is very healthful for stock ; and the grass that comes 
under it will be of more luxuriant growth, and prove more 
palatable than the pasturing under any other tree. On some 
rich tiat the sugar-maple may be planted ; and beside the 
creek or branch, if there be one, the willow slip may be set 
out and will grow with surprising rapidity. The locust also 
grows rapidly, and all these trees make a fine shade and are 
valuable for wood, rails, and timber. For making rails and 
fence-posts, the locust is almost unequaled. Locust rails 
will last a century. 

Shrubbery is a desirable feature in any pasture, and there 
are special reasons why even the briars may profitably be 
retained on poor, thin, or stony knobs, and along the gullies 
and ravines. The blackberry bush will enrich a poor soil 
almost as fast as any other known appliance, while the roots 
will effectually prevent any washing away during heavy 
rains. It is excellent, also, as a preventive of disease in some 
cases, as well as a remedy. Instinct teaches the horse, and 
other animals, many facts that concern his health and pros- 
perity, and thus the leaves of several trees and weeds, and 
even those of the bramble-bush become the medication to 
which Nature bids them resort. The principal value of the 
blackberry in the pastures arises from its astringent qual- 
ities, which make it of the greatest service in relieving the 
"scours" that is so common among young colts in the early 
spring, and which keep many of them thin and poor for 
nearly the whole season. This trouble generally disappears 
when patches of briars can be got at, since both horses and 
cattle eat of the leaves freely. Of course the briars should 
not be permitted to overspread the whole field, or to occupy 
30 



466 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

the choice parts, but only such locations as we have specified. 
"When we consider that they bear a most delicious fruit for 
table use, it seems still more unwise to destroy them al- 
together. 

Small fields are better than large ones, in the division of 
the pasture lands upon the farm. Frequent changes from 
one field to another will be beneficial to the stock, and like- 
wise to the pastures. "A change of pasture makes fat 
calves." The saying is old and trite, but it states a truth, 
nevertheless, and applies equally to the colt. By this course, 
too, the field will afiEbrd considerably more grazing, taking 
the season throughout. 

If it can be so arranged, colts of different ages should be 
kept in separate fields; or, rather, the older horses, unless it 
be some old mother mares, should not be allowed to run 
with the colts. If any of the latter do not thrive well, but 
remain in bad plight, let the farmer separate them from the 
rest and try to learn what the matter is, and then set to work 
to remedy the evil. When a number of colts are running to- 
gether, the weaker and smaller ones are sometimes greatly 
abused by those that are larger and stronger. This should 
be seen to in all cases, and such arrangements made as will 
insure the feebler stock a fair chance. 

The question of water is a very important one. Dead 
ponds and mud-holes are not what is needed on a stock farm. 
They are hardly any better suited to the horse's uses than 
they are to those of the human being, and many colts are 
enfeebled and often diseased by having only such water af- 
forded them to drink. Fortunate, indeed, is that farmer 
who has a spring or a running stream within his pasture. 
In the absence of such a blessing to his stock a good well 
is the next resource, and should be immediately sunk and 
fitted up with a good chain-pump, and a large trough to hold 
the water. Artificial ponds deserve universal condemnation ; 
they are cess-pools of filth and disease. It is much easier, 
we know, to let btock run to the mud-hole, and help them- 
selves to such dirty water as they can find there, than it is 



BREEDING, STOCK-RAISING, ETC. 467 

to pump from the well, once or twice a day, the supply of 
drink that they need; but it will not pay to save labor in 
any such manner as this. Any running water, or the pools 
in the bed of a rocky-bottomed creek, will do for stock. If 
it can be avoided, no water should be given the horse, ex- 
cept such as we are willing to use ourselves. Upon this 
point most farmers are very heedless generally, perhaps, be- 
cause they do not know to what extent their inattention or 
indolence may injure the horse. 



468 



AMEEICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 

The appearance and shape of the teeth constitute what is 
most generally relied upon as a means of determining the 
age of a horse ; and, in connection with other circumstances, 
concerning which the experienced horseman will always as- 




THE MOUTH OF A THREE-TEAR OLD. 

B, Anterior maxillary bone. 

1 1, Central permanent nippers, nearly full-grown. 

2 2, Milk teeth, worn down. 

8 3, Corner milk teeth, still showing central mark, or kerneL 
4 4, Tushes concealed within the jaw. 



■^ 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 



469 



certain full particulars, if it be possible to do so, tliey leally 
form a quite accurate mark of age, until the animal is some- 
what past his prime. The anatomy and names of the three 
kinds of teeth found in the horse's mouth have been given as 
fully as the practical farmer and breeder will care about Know- 
ing, in Chapters II and X. All that now remains to be done 




MOUTH OF THE COLT AT FODR AND A HALF TEARS. 



A, Anterior maxillary bone. 

1 1, Central nippers, considerably worn down. 

2 2, The next pair, fully developed, with their edges slightly worn. 

3 3, Corner permanent nippers, in a state of growth, with the edges of the 

cavity sharp, and the mark very plain. 

4 4, The tushes showing themselves through the gums, but not full-grown. 

is to point out the peculiarities which generally characterize 
the teeth at different periods of the horse's life, and by which 
his age may be determined with considerable exactness. 



470 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

At birth, or within two or three days afterward, the mouth 
of the foal shows two grinders on each side, above and below — 
eight altogether — and this is all. When four front teeth, or 
nippers, have fairly come through, two in each jaw, he is ten 




UPPEK NIPPERS AND TUSHES AT FIVE YEARS OLD. 

1 1, Central nippers, with mark still unobliterated. 

2 2, Next nippers, with mark still plainer. 

3 3, Corner nippers, with the edges very slightly worn. 

4 4, Tushes, well-developed, and still plainly showing the groove on the out- 

side. 

or twelve da3's old; and when the next four appear, one 
upon each side of the others in both jaws, he is nearing the 
close of his first month. The protrusion of the corner teeth — 
that is, the third pair of nippers in each jaw — indicates an 



MAEKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 471 

age of about eight months. At one year old, the central and 
the second pairs of nippers are worn nearly level, and the 
corner tooth, which is now of the same length as its neigh- 
bors, is rapidly becoming so. 

The two-year old colt has the mark, or kernel — the dark, 
hard substance in the middle of the crown of the tooth- 
ground quite out of all the front teeth, or nippers. So far 




LOWER NIPPERS AND TUSHES OF A FIVE-YEAR OLD HORSE. 

1 1, Central nippers, with their marks almost entirely worn out. 

2 2, Next nippers, showing marks partially worn. 

3 3, Corner nippers, with the marks plainly seen, but the edges giving evi- 

dence of wear. 

4 4, Tushes, with the groove inside almost obliterated. 

the young animal has got along very well with his milk teeth, 
but now he begins to need others, not merely larger, but also 
of a firmer, more durable composition and setting ; and this 
necessity Nature meets by commencing the replacement of 
the first set by the permanent teeth. This operation begins 



472 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



with the first grinder — the forward one ; but as the grinders 
are all of them too far back in the mouth to be easily in- 
spected, we must continue to depend mainly upon what we 
can discover in connection with the nippers. 

During the third year the central nippers are being shed — 
or shifted, as it is often called — and by the time it is com- 




LOWEB NIPPERS AND TUSHES OF A SIX-YEAE OLD HORSE. 

B, The lower jaw. 

1 1, The centra' nippers, with the marks worn out. 

2 2, The next nippers, with the marks disappearing. 

3 3, The corner nippers, showing the mark plainly enough, but with the 

edges of the cavity considerably worn. 

4 4, The tushes, standing up three-quarters of an inch, with their points only 

slightly blunted. 

pleted, the permanent pair have become nearly full-grown. 
(See cut of the mouth of a three-year old.) In the fourth 
year, the same changes occur in the second pair of nippers ; 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 



473 



and about the time of entering upon the fifth year, the tushes, 
or bridle teeth, are generally in plain sight. 

At the age of five years, the mouth is complete in the 
number of its teeth, and is now said to be " a full mouth." 
At six years, the central nippers of the lower jaw are so 




UPPER NIPPERS IN THE EIGHT-TEAR OLD HORSE. 

A, Anterior maxillary bone. 

1 1, Central nippers, worn to a plane surface, or nearly so. 

2 2, Next pair, still showing some remnant of the cavity. 

3 3, Corner nippers, showing the mark plainly enough. 

4 4, Tushes, worn down more than in the lower jaw of the six-year old mouth. 

much worn down that the kernel is obliterated, and the 
tushes have attained their full growth. 

At seven years, a hook has been formed on the corner teeth 
of the upper jaw, the kernel of the second pair of nippers in 
the lower jaw is no longer visible, and the tushes plainly 



474 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

show the eflects of wear. At eight years, the kernel is woru 
away from all the nippers of the lower jaw, and is becoming 
much less conspicuous in the central pair of the upper jaw, 
or in the wholly stable-fed horse has disappeared altogether. 
During the ninth year, what remains of the kernel, if any 
thing, in the central pair of nippers in the upper jaw, is woru 




LOWKR NIPPERS, ETC., OF A VEKY OLD HOKSE. 

away, the hook on the corner teeth increases in size, and the 
tushes lose their points. The tenth year witnesses the dis- 
appearance of the kernel from the second pair of nippers in 
the upper jaw, and the eleventh from the corner teeth also. 
At twelve years old the crowns of all the front teeth in the 
lower jaw have become triangular, and the tushes are much 
worn down. 

As the horse continues to grow older, the gums, in conse- 
quence of a gradual process of absorption, shrink away from 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 475 

the teeth, which from this circumstance acquire a loug, nar- 
row shape. The engraving on the preceding page is a faith- 
ful copy from nature of the lower nippers and left tush in a 
very old horse. It will be perceived that the right tush has 
fallen out. 

After the horse is eight years old, his age can not be told 
with any thing more than simply an approximation to ac- 
curacy, although an experienced horseman will not very often 
err during the next four years. After the age of twelve, we 
know of no reliable guide further than this, that very long, 
smooth teeth indicate extreme old age. A few horses ex- 
hibit only slight changes in the appearance of their teeth 
after attaining their ninth year. We have met with several 
that, at the ages of twelve or fifteen, had the marks of only 
eight or nine, and quite a number whose corner teeth never 
had any hooks. 

The appearance of the teeth will be considerably modified 
by the kind of food which the horse eats, the soil and climate 
of the country in which he lives, and the like circumstances. 
Horses that run a great deal upon pasture, in sandy countries, 
have their teeth worn smooth unusually early. The sand,, 
lodging upon the grass, is being continually ground between 
the animal's teeth, and by this means the distinctive marks 
of age, relied upon by horse dealers and jockeys, are often 
brought on prematurely, so far as the teeth are concerned. 
Judged solely by this indication, many a horse of five or six 
would pass for ten. 

' Along the Mississippi River, and many of its tributaries, 
hundreds of horses and colts live nearly the whole year upon 
the cane growing in the river and creek bottoms, and in their 
case the nippers generally become broken oft' in such a man- 
ner that no reliable marks of age remain. Like those horses 
mentioned in the last paragraph, that live mainly by grazing 
on sandy soils, they seldom have any hooks upon the corner 
teeth. 

In some breeds the marks of the teeth vary materially from 
those which are found in most horses. The pony, for ex- 



476 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

ample, seldom has any hooks on the coiner teeth, nor do hia 
incisors wear oft' and change with the usual rapidity. In 
his case, too, the shrinking away of the gums, by age, is so 
much less as oftentimes to be hardly perceptible. As hia 
life is much beyond the average of horse-flesh, so his teeth 
last longer in proportion. To some extent, these remarks 
will apply also to horses of different mold and frame. Tall, 
bony animals generally have much older-looking teeth than 
those of small size and compact build. So have those horses 
that are kept constantly in stable, than their fellows which 
run most of the time on pasture. 

Artificial marks are sometimes made in the lower nippers, 
by a rascally class of jockeys, in order to deceive the pur- 
chaser in regard to the animal's age. This swindling opera- 
tion is of English origin, and is thus described by Youatt: 

" It is called bishoping, from the name of the scoundrel who 
invented it. The horse of eight or nine years old is thrown, 
and with an engraver's tool a hole is dug in the now almost 
plain surface of the corner teeth, and in shape and depth re- 
sembling the mark in a seven-years-old horse. The hole is 
then burned with a heated iron, and a permanent black stain 
is left. The next pair of nippers are sometimes lightly 
touched. An ignorant man would be very easily imposed 
on by this trick ; but the irregular appearance of the cavity — 
the diffusion of the black stain around the tushes, the 
sharpened edges and concave inner surface of which can 
never be given again — the marks on the upper nippers, to- 
gether with the general conformation of the horse, can never 
deceive the careful examiner." 

In relation to the means of determining the age of a horse, 
after passing into his ninth year, the same author has the 
following remarks : 

"The tushes are exposed to but little wear and tear. The 
friction against them must be slight, proceeding only from 
the passage of the food over them, and from the motion of 
the tongue, or from the bit; and their alteration of form, al- 
though generally as we have described it, is fre j^uently un- 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 477 

certain. The tush will sometimes be blunt at eight; at other 
times it will remain pointed at eighteen. The upper tush, 
although the latest in appearing, is soonest worn away. 

" Are there any circumstances to guide our judgment after 
this ? There are those which will prepare us to guess at the 
age of the horse, or to approach within a few years of it, until 
he becomes very old ; but there are none which will enable 
us accurately to determine the question, and the indica- 
tions of age must now be taken from the shape of the upper 
surface of the nippers. At eight, they are all oval, the 
length of the oval running across from tooth to tooth ; but 
as the horse gets older, the teeth diminish in size, and this 
commencing in their width, and not in their thickness. They 
become a little apart from each other, and their surfaces are 
rounded. At nine, the center nippers are evidently so ; at 
ten, the others begin to have the oval shortened. At eleven, 
the second pair of nippers are quite rounded; and at thir- 
teen, the corner ones have that appearance. At fourteen, 
the faces of the central nippers become somewhat triangular. 
At seventeen, they are all so. At nineteen, the angles begin 
to wear oft', and the central teeth are again oval, but in a re- 
versed direction, viz., from outward, inward ; and at twenty- 
one they all wear this form. This is the opinion of some 
Continental veterinary surgeons, and Mr. Percivall first pre- 
sented them to us in an English dress. 

" It would be folly to expect perfect accuracy at this ad- 
vanced age of the horse, when we are bound to confess that 
the rules which we have laid down for determining this mat- 
ter at an earlier period, although they are recognized by 
horsemen generally, and referred to in courts of justice, will 
not guide us in any case. Stabled horses have the mark 
sooner worn out than those that are at grass ; and the crib- 
biter may deceive the best judge by one or two years. The 
age of the horse, likewise, being formerly calculated from 
the first of May, it was exceedingly difiScult, or almost im- 
possible, to determine whether the animal was a late foal of 
one year, or an early one of the next. At nine or ten, the 



478 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

bars of the laouth becomes less prominent, and their regular 
diminution will designate increasing age. At eleven or 
twelve, the lower nippers change their original upright di- 
rection, and project forward or horizontally, and become of 
a yellow color. They are yellow, because the teeth must 
S'row, in order to answer their wear and tear; but the 
enamel which covered their surface when they were first pro- 
duced, can not be repaired ; and that which wears this yellow 
color in old age is the part which in youth was in the 
socket, and, therefore, destitute of enamel." 

THE LIPS. 

The lips do not afford a precise index of any particular 
age; but as the horse advances beyond eight or nine years, 
the upper lip begins to contract or shorten, while the under 
one commences to lengthen and drop down. The latter 
often pods out much in the form of half a cocoanut-shell, 
and increasingly so each year. At fifteen, the lips have gen- 
erally become much wrinkled and shriveled, and as the horse 
advances in age this indication becomes more and more 
marked. 

THE HAIR. 

There are several appearances of the hair that betoken 
age. Perhaps the most conspicuous of them consists in the 
hair over the eyes, and upon the forehead, turning gray. 
This color generally begins to show when the horse is be- 
tween ten and twelve years old, and, continuing to grow 
lighter, as well as to encroach gradually upon the adjacent 
surfaces, at fifteen it has become a decided mark of age. 
After the animal has passed his twelfth year, and between 
that and the sixteenth, a gray horse becomes speckled with 
innumerable little black spots, giving rise to the peculiar ap- 
pearance commonly designated as flea-bitten. This singu- 
larity is very seldom seen in a horse under twelve years of 
age, frequently not until after he is fifteen. These dark 
shades increase as long as he lives. 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 479 

THE CHIN. 

When the horse is about ten years old, the chin or lower 
jaw-bone begins to be pointed, its lower edge becoming quite 
sharp and angular. Like the other signs of old age, this 
change of form increases from year to year. At the same 
time, also, the skin over the jaw-bone becomes more loose ; 
the flesh shrinks away, until, instead of the fullness and 
roundness which was found at the age of five and six, there 
now seems a hollow or depression, and the outer edges or 
lower angles of the jaw-bone appears to bend out more 
and more. 

THE EYES. 

The eyes give indications of old age, in their loss of brill- 
iancy, the flattening of the ball, from the partial absorption 
of some of the humors, and in the deepening of the hollow 
over them. 

I "Wrinkles commence coming on the under lid of the eye 

'at a very early age. By man}' these are considered a more 

I correct criterion of age than even the teeth, and nearly as 

I infallible as the wrinkles upon the horn of a cow. It is as- 

'serted by them that these wrinkles make their first appear- 

, ance at the age of three years, and that all one needs to do, 

'to ascertain how many years old any horse is, is to count 

these wrinkles and then add three to their aggregate number. 

\ Of the correctness of this rule we have serious doubts ; yet 

it is certainly true that numerous wrinkles are a mark of 

old age. 

THE ABUSES OF THE HORSE. 

A great many persons use the horse as if they really be- 
lieved him to be made of iron. It is perfectly astonishing 
what a lack of mercy, and how much brutality, there is in 
the world — how utterly devoid some persons seem to be of 
the commonest instincts of humanity in their treatment of 
the brute creation — how little regard is paid by thousands 
to those lessons of the Divine Word that inculcate the beau- 
tiful virtue of mercy. The injury which the horse sustains 



480 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

by maltreatment depreciates his value, in many cases, fully 
one-third in the present generation, and is the cause of untold 
evils in the next. Here lies one great obstruction in the way 
of the improvement of the American horse ; while, if we may 
judge by the accounts of foreign veterinarians, the case is 
still worse in Europe. 

In many farming communities, perhaps nearly all of them, 
it is seldom that either the mare with foal or the young 
colt receives such treatment as is essential to perfect health, 
or such as is conducive to the best interests of the owner. 
The aggregate amount of debility, suffering, and disease, oc- 
casioned by the ill-usage of horse-flesh, in all its hideous 
forms, is greater than can adequately find expression in words. 
Perhaps seven-tenths of all the ailments which befall the 
horse, in civilized communities, is either directly or indirectly 
the legitimate fruits of the negligence and brutality of man. 
Many a scrub of a colt would have been foaled plump, healthy, 
and admirably developed, if the mother had been properly 
cared for during the months preceding his birth. How many 
fine colts there are, too, whose future is ruined, or whose 
prospects are, at least, greatly marred, by mistreatment of 
themselves or the dams, or of both ; and how many good 
horses has every observant farmer seen thrown into a bad 
condition, from which they very slowly or never recovered, 
by the same agencies. 

Did the evil extend no further than the animal which be- 
comes the victim of these abuses, we might forbear some of 
our words of reprobation ; but such is not the case, and we 
must often see it carried, not merely into the future of the 
original sufferer, but into that of his or her progeny. If the 
mother is sadly abused during gestation, the foal will come 
into the world feeble and, perhaps, ill-grown, and can hardly be 
brought up by any subsequent treatment to the fair standard 
of his race. The race, instead of having been improved, is 
thus actually thrown back, and years or generations will be 
required, under the most favorable circumstances, to repair 
the mischief done. 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 481 

We invite the reader's attention to a number of the most 
common abuses of the horse, and shall freely express our 
views concerning them, together with our reasons for enter- 
taining them. 

OVER-WORKING. 

It is strange how little attention is paid by the majority 
of farmers and teamsters to the equal distribution of labor 
among their working stock. Nearly as often as otherwise, 
we find horses unequally paired to do the same amount of 
work. For instance, a small. horse with a large one, or one 
that is thin and feeble with another that is in good condi- 
tion and of unimpaired strength. 

Then, too, not half the time is there any reasonable ac- 
count taken of the weight of the load and the character of 
the road to be gone over. Is the load made suitable to the 
animal's physical strength, or must he draw as much as else- 
where over a bad or hilly road, a quagmire, or a plowed 
field, and nearly tug his life out in pulling beyond his strength ? 
The philosophy of light loads and quick trips seems to have 
been almost forgotten. Many horses have been ruined by 
severe strainings, either manifesting great lameness or other 
injury at once, or gradually failing afterward, until they be- 
came nearly worthless. 

So of overwork in the plow. Hundreds of times have we 
seen one small horse before a larg-e 
ffi plow in heavy land, where, to do the 
work well, was enough for two horses 
to accomplish. Such exhibitions are 
very common at the South, as nearly 
all the land in that section is broken 
up with one horse. 
Young horses are often put to work too early, before the 
bones are properly hardened and the joints sufliciently strong. 
In this immature condition, the young animal is not able to 
bear constant and severe exertion, and if it is exacted of 
him, the owner must expect that the least serious injury 
which the horse can sustain will be limbs and joints enlarged 
31 




482 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

and stiif throughout his whole life. Moderate exercise should 
be begun quite early, but full service of no kind should be 
required until the fourth year. 

But the greatest abuse in this way is the overworking of 
mares with foal, as mentioned in the preceding section. In- 
juring two lives at once, it is a shameful outrage. 

Horses that have been idle for some time, either in the 
stable or pasture, should not be returned to hard labor all 
at once, but with judicious caution. Upon this point, how- 
ever, we have dwelt so explicitly in the section on Exercise, 
in Chapter XVII, that we need do nothing more here than 
refer the reader to those pages. 

WHIPPINa AND BEATING. 

One would think that the horse had hardships enough, in 
his daily drudgery, without being made the innocent victim 
of the crabbedness and ill-nature of those who happen to be 
in charge of him. Nevertheless, it is amazing how much 
thoughtless, and often purposed, wickedness there is exhibited 
in his maltreatment. Some men have a practice, whenever 
their affairs do not go just to suit them, of getting up a row 
with their teams, and venting their spleen upon their poor, 
unresisting brutes. Many appear to find one of their dearest 
delights in the torture of dumb animals, and can have noth- 
ing to do with the horse without expending upon him some 
of the malice and cruelty of which their ugly natures are full, 
in the form of kicks, blows, and other brutalities. 

Even many a man of better disposition knows no other 
possible means of reducing a fractious horse to submis- 
sion, or of quieting a restive one, than the unstinted ap- 
plication of the whip; and when such monsters as those 
referred to above imagine they have found some pretext for 
their outrages, there is hardly any telling to what length 
they may carry their abuses. We have seen such lashings 
and beatings inflicted upon the horse as would make the 
blood run chill in the veins of any person not utterly lost to 
the feelings of humanity. 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 483 

About the time we began writing this vciiime, we saw a 
case of this character. A young mare had been hitched to 
the plow, a labor to which she had never been accustomed, 
by the side of a very slow old horse, while she was of un- 
usually rapid motion. She would start quite freely and 
quickly, pull the large two-horse plow through the unbroken 
soil, until her strength gave out, and then, forced to stop 
from mere exhaustion, would refuse, for some time, to go for- 
ward. At this one of the men would take her out of the 
plow, and, with a great club six or seven feet in length, 
would beat the poor creature with all his might. Not content 
with giving her at least a hundred blows in this wa}', he 
kicked her fifty times or more with his heavy boots. The 
mare was in that peculiar condition called " in season," and 
was probably more than ordinarily fractious, as all mares are 
apt to be at such times; but these brutal wretches did not 
know her state, neither did they care. She was doing the 
best she could, the trouble being simply that she was in the 
wrong place and at the wrong time ; for it would have been 
wise to exempt her from labor at that time, or, at least, to have 
put her beside some horse having the same life and activity 
as herself. That dreadful beating nearly ruined her for the 
whole season, if not forever. For some months now she has 
been on a visible decline. 

Such scenes as that here described are by no means un- 
common ; they happen every year by thousands. From abuses 
like these few horses ever entirely recover. We remember 
the case of a fine young sorrel mare in Tennessee, that was 
unmercifully whipped because she failed to pull a very heavy 
load up a very steep hill. The great welts made by the whip 
stood up all over her body as large as a man's finger. She 
was made very sick, and gradually declined, until she became 
almost worthless. Just before this time she had been sold 
for one hundred and fifty dollars ; but six months afterward 
she would not bring fifty. 

Many a horse has been killed by a sudden blow upon some 
vital part. In our memory there now rises an occurrence 



484 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



we witnessed some years ago— a fine, large horse struck vio- 
lently upon the neck, just back of the ear, and falling in- 
stantly dead. His offense was refusing to work in a cart. 
The spine was undoubtedly broken — a sad result which maybe 
easily brought about by a blow upon the first joint of the neck. 

In chastising a mare with foal, hundreds of men have so 
little sense or consideration as to kick her about the body. 
If the foal is not killed outright by this barbarous proceed- 
ing, it is likely to receive more or less injury, which will be 
permanent. 

It would probably surprise every one, if it could be known 
how many horses are ruined every year in the United States 
by overworking and cruel punishments. The annual loss to 
the country in this way would be counted by many hundreds 
of thousands of dollars. 





CUTTING AND SLITTING THE EARS. 

This senseless and cruel practice is happily very much on 
the wane. The time once was 
when nearly every small horse or 
pony could be seen with his ears 
cropped, or showing great slits in 
them. Now, however, one sees 
such an animal but seldom. 

The avowed object of this heart- 
less custom was nothing less ab- 
surd than the improvement of the horse's looks. What a 
perverter of tastes capricious fashion can become ! Some 
farmers have a most outlandish fancy for cropping the ears 
of all the domestic animals on their estates. The ears of the 
dog must come off or be cropped close, and so must those of 
poor old brindle, or the patient yoke of working oxen ; while 
the pigs are predestined to the same mutilation from the mo- 
ment of birth, so that they have nothing to keep the dirt 
and mud from their heads when they seek to indulge in the 
swinish luxury of a wallow in the puddle, or of sunning them- 
selves on a dirty bank. 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES 



485 




All this is ridiculous, .4^^^. .•••-■Jcs^.ri^^ ■-. 
no less than inhuman. 
Nature has given these 
organs to the lower ani- 
mals to protect the in- 
ternal parts of the ear, 
and to keep out dust 
and flies; but, what is 
even of more conse- 
quence than this, the 
external ear performs a 
most important function 

in catching the undulations of sound, which i)n)duce the sense 
of hearing. To deprive any of these dumb servants of the 
ears, or to mutilate those members, is to impair the hearing; 
to leave the tympanum — that is, the sensitive membrane within 
the ear which is commonly called its drum — more or less ex- 
posed to cold, wet, dust, flies, etc., and to occasion sufl^ering 
that is wholly unnecessary. 

In the case of the horse, the practice is especially repug- 
nant to all notions of correct taste, to say nothing of its 
cruelty. The ears consti- 
tute one of his chief orna- 
ments. Their various po- 
sitions and changing mo- 
tions indicate his temper 
and feelings most perfect- 
ly. When pitched forward, ^| 
they betray surprise or 
alarm; when drawn partly 
back, dislike or timidity ; 
when thrown entirely back, so that they lie on the neck, 
danger and intention to do mischief; when raised and moving 
loosely back and forth, they indicate gentleness and docility; 
and when they droop away from the head, the horse is sleep}^ 
or very ill. What true lover of the horse has failed to rec- 
ognize and admire this beautiful play of the ears? How 




486 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

foolish and wanton, therefore, to injure or destroy them, 
either in the manner here reprobated or as mentioned tn the 
section on Deafness, etc., in Chapter VIII. 

NICKING AND DOCKING. 

Fashion is, indeed, a tyrant with no mercy, no heart; and 
this is equally true whether the victim of its whims hap- 
pens to be a human l)eing or one of the dumb brutes. A 
certain class of exquisites still linger in our country that 
have such an excessive refinement of tastes, that every thing 
they use must differ, in some way or other, from the same 
thing in the possession of the vulgar herd of humanity. To 
their notions, the Creator has made nothing just right — 
nothing to suit their choice, at any rate. Their morbid 
fancy can suggest improvements upon the most perfect speci- 
mens of Nature's handiwork ; and thus they are continually 
torturing the poor animals which are so unfortunate as to 
fall into their hands. 

The Almighty has not seen fit to provide a race of pigs 
and dogs without ears, nor of horses with short tails, for the 

especial gratification of 
this superior order of be- 
ings. Nothing daunted, 
however, they set to work 
to supply the deficiency, 
and here the detestable 
practice of nicking and 
docking have their origin, 
the poor horse becoming 
the subject of shocking cruelties. Not only is he deprived 
of part of his tail — a member of the highest usefulness and 
great beauty — ^but the remainder is so cut, at different places, 
that the muscles by which it is erected and depressed are 
permanently destroyed. lie must, also, stand with his -tail 
drawn upward by a cord tied to the hair, and then passed 
over a pulley at the opposite end, where a weight is attached, 
which stretches the sore and inflamed member as much as 





MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 487 

the bones will bear without breaking, or, perhaps, not less 
than even that. In this condition of extreme suffering he 
must remain for two or three weeks, without any change. 

Thanks to a better state of public sentiment, these out- 
rages have greatly fallen into disuse. Not only have sensible 
men and men of feeling been disgusted with these barbari- 
ties, but they are now rarely demanded by even our city ex- 
quisites. Neither nicking nor docking is now 
practiced upon country horses, and we hope the 
time is not far distant when both, will be remem- 
bered only as the dim recollection of a past bar- 
barism. The ears, forelock, mane, tail, and hair are all 
among the natural adornments of the horse, and none of 
them can the caprice of man successfully attempt to improve 
upon. 

RACING. 

Many of our readers will probably be surprised to see this 
subject introduced under the head of abuses of the horse, when 
not a few other authors have placed it almost at the head of 
their list of essentials in a complete veterinary treatise. Our 
classification, however, is not the result of any straining after 
originality, or of any mere freak of the fancy, but originates 
in the deliberate conviction that racing is one of the greatest 
and most injurious of the abuses that falls to the lot of horse- 
flesh in this our day and generation. 

The great plea for the sports of the turf is nothing less 
than a specious fallacy. It is that they tend to improve the 
breed of horses throughout the land by making known su- 
perior merit, and stimulating breeders and horsemen to 
greater efforts in their various departments. With this state- 
jment, it is designed to couple the inference — rather implied 
'than expressed, however — that the same ends can not be 
^attained by any other means, or, at least, not to an equal 
extent; and by such sophistry is it sought to cover up and 
palliate those enormous evils — at whose head stands the most 
I corrupting vice of gambling — which are the invariable con- 
(comitants of racing. 



488 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The argument is but an assumption, and can not be sus- 
tained by any demonstrable facts, We hold that racing is 
not the best means of improving our stock of horses, nor the 
most extensive, and that, as to the general character of its 
operations, they deserve the condemnation of every thought- 
ful and pure-minded individual. 

But sportsmen, says the advocate of racing, have imported 
some splendid stock. Granted, if you choose to have it so ; 
but where one superior animal has been brought into this 
country by that class, ten are imported by men who have no 
identification with' the turf, and most of them men who 
ignore and despise it altogether. In fact, this latter class 
have either imported or bred two-thirds of the horses kept 
expressly for racing purposes. Sportsmen have a wonderfully 
keen scent for discovering any animal of unusual fleetness; 
and wherever they find one, no matter where or how origi- 
nating, they are sure to buy him up and train him for the 
race-track; and the "Turf Register" has many famous names 
upon its pages, as bred by this or that breeder, while that 
gentlemen has not felt at all complimented by having his 
name paraded before the public in an}^ such connection. 

Like all gamblers, sportsmen generally have plenty of 
money and leisure, and are extremely fond of pleasure. They 
are great excursionists, and travel extensively. Many of them 
are employed by wealthy men, of the same fraternity, to visit 
the farms of the best breeders in the country and inspect 
their stock of horses ; and if any young animal is lighted 
upon that gives extraordinary promise of success upon the 
turf, he is purchased at once, and his training begun. 

We have met too many of this class of gentry, during Ihe 
last twenty years, not to be fully apprized of their character 
and practices. It is but a miserable subterfuge, put forth to 
cover the iniquities of the race-track, that the chief object 
of the sport is to improve the breed of horses in the country. 
Not one in a hundred of these men ever had such an emotion 
or purpose in their lives; neither are they capable of so 
doing. WVat care they for the interests of the community, 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 489 

or for elevating the average standard of our stock, if they 
can get a good horse to run and bet upon? The race be- 
comes, in their hands, only an extraordinarily exciting species 
of gambling, where the horse is used instead of the game- 
cock, the cards, the roulette-ball, or the dice. Money is the 
object, betting is the mania, and gambling the great attrac- 
tion. This is the center, the soul, the all-in-all of the affair; 
and if this stimulus were removed from it, the dear people 
and their fine breeds of horses might go to — destruction, so 
far as these philanthropic gentlemen are concerned. 

The very character of the men engaged in the pursuits of 
racing — their lives and their habits — condemn any such as- 
sumption on behalf of the turf Who is it that attends such 
places? Who is it that keeps up the races? The way in 
which the thing is managed, as we have seen it scores ol 
' times, is about as follows : Some man, of horse-racing re- 
' spectability and notoriety, sends a challenge to some othei 
equally noted man of the same kind of respectability, and 
who also keeps a race-horse, and backs his challenge by the 
exceedingly disinterested offer of contributing his share to- 
, ward a purse of a few hundreds or thousands of dollars, to 
1 be given the owner of the winner. These fine gentlemen, 
be it known, are very enterprising, genteel, and benevolent — 
gamblers by profession, now devoting themselves to the laud- 
able object of improving the breeds of horses in the country. 
I What a praiseworthy exhibition of public spirit and gener- 
' osity ! But the winner is to have the purse of money, and 
both may, perhaps, make a snug sum by betting. Ah I here 
! we have the incitement — the full measure — of their benevo- 
lence. The purse lays off the race-course and organizes all 
. its appliances — nothing else in the world. 
I These gentlemen, about to engage in their worthy mission 
I of giving an impetus to the improvement of the stock of 
I horse-flesh, call together an immense number of their con- 
' freres to enjoy with them the edifying opportunities of the 
j race. The sport is, accordingly, witnessed by an immense 
' crowd of excited spectators. Some burly old judge, who has, 



490 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

for an liour or two, torn himself away from his whist and 
champagne, presides on this important occasion. It is his 
yearly turn-out from his pipe and his gout. It is vacation- 
time, also, in the gambling dens of the adjoining cities, and 
every blackguard that is accustomed to frequent them is sure 
to be found at the races. There betting goes on briskly, of 
course, from the clean-shaven gambler that can bluster out 
his offer of hundreds to tens downward in the scale of human 
respectability, to the boys and negroes, whose sole resources 
consist in coats, hats, dogs, and jack-knives. 

But the professional gamblers comprise but a small propor- 
tion of the vast concourse there assembled. Every sink of 
iniquity of the region round about has a full delegation at 
the races. Every house of ill-fame, every rum-hole, every 
hot-bed of vice and crime is here represented. Gamblers, 
prostitutes, pimps, pickpockets, confidence-men, and swind- 
lers of all sorts, thieves, robbers, burglars, and the like, are 
all here. And- for what? Many of them to ply their dis- 
honest callings, or to advertise their degrading vocations ; 
while the least corrupt spectator has no other motive than 
to see two or more dumb animals forced at tlie top of their 
speed — no matter at what cost of suffering and injury — for 
one, two, or three miles, as the case may be, and to learn 
how one grand scoundrel fleeces another grand scoundrel out 
of the money that the latter, in tarn, had swindled some 
other grand scoundrel out of not quite so sharp as he. 

The excitement goes on, and many a successful better wins 
only to swell the gains of the pickpocket. But another ex- 
citement follows, or, perhaps, attends. A festive board is 
spread, at which King Alcohol presides, and his votaries are 
many. Here the jolly crowd jest, and laugh, and tipple, the 
bottles pop, the wine flows, and the foaming cups run over. 
Here they forget "all their troubles, while money flies, and 
whiskey bubbles," until at last some chivalric reveller begins 
a row, ending, perchance, in murder, and so the curtain drops. 
The great convocation, assembled from the purlieus and the 
gaudier haunts of vice in the neighboring cities in the inter- 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 491 

ests of equine improvement closes its session, and pandemo- 
nium breaks up, to herald, through the newspapers, far and 
wide, the wonderful achievements of the race-course. "Was 
it not of such a class, and of such ungodly practices, that the 
prophet denounced in this fearful language : " The harp and 
the viol and the tabret are in their feasts, but they regard not 
the work of the Lord, neither the operations of his hands. 
Therefore, hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth 
without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and 
their pomp, and he that rejoiceth therein, shall descend 
into it." 

Perhaps this picture is characterized by a more vivid col- 
oring than is just in all cases ; and yet we must express our 
unqualified condemnation of the whole system of horse- 
racing as evil, and only evil, and that continually. It is a 
gambling institution from first to last. We believe that the 
I great plea put forth in its defense is essentially false, and 
jthat if more cflicient measures were not employed to accom- 
plish the same ends, there would be but very few fine horses 
,in the country to-day. 

j Race-horses are not the stock the farmer needs. He has 
Ino interest in the turf whatever. There arc better bloods 
*in the country than those commonly represented on the 
•race-track. How is it with the other domestic , animals ? 
iThey have improved vastly more than the horse, and that 
'without any such extraordi'iiary incitements as the turf 
lis claimed to afford the horse-breeder. Intelligent, enter- 
iprising gentlemen have been found, in considerable numbers, 
|to import fine breeds of cattle, sheep, and hogs, and to-day 
,'these animals unquestionably stand in advance of the Amer- 
jican horse in all the essentials of fine forms and desirable 
'qualities. Indeed, it may well be questioned whether our 
jhorses are not slowly but surely deteriorating from year to 
jyear ; and, while it would be too much to charge the whole 
imischief upon the abuses of the race-course, there can be no 
(shifting of much of the responsibility from those causes. 

'No horse, put to the top of his speed for two or three miles, 



492 AldiERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

can ever be relied upon as a good foal-getter afterward. The 
great strain in racing is upon the loins — the sacral vertehrcE— 
which is the weakest part of the back, covering the genital 
organs. These are impaired to some extent, perhaps, at 
every race the horse is forced to run, and his colts show 
plainly the effects of the seminal disturbances of the sire. 
As a rule, the most objectionable of all the horses within 
our knowledge as a breeder is the champion stallion of the 
race-track. He may come of ever so fine blood, yet his 
progeny will seldom be equal to liimself, and, in nine cases 
out of ten, will fall considerably below his standard. The 
number of weak, flabby, loose-jointed colts gotten from such 
sires will astonish any one who chooses to investigate the 
matter for himself. 

The correction of these evils would be retarded, but need 
by no means be prevented, by one difficulty, and that is the 
assumption and parade of the turfmen themselves. The 
whole subject pertaining to the relative value, etc., of differ- 
ent breeds, has been given up into their hands to an extent 
that is most unreasonable and hurtful. Unworthy and in- 
competent hands they are, in truth, not at all meeting the 
requirements of the case. Had not this class stood in the 
way, other and better men would have come forward, with 
different jnotives, and vastly more would have been accom- 
plished in elevating the average standard of the American 
horse than has yet been done. 

Much, however, has already been effected, and is still be- 
ing accomplished, in a legitimate and honorable way, to en- 
courage the breeding of fine horses, by liberal premiums 
at the various fairs — institutions which deserve the counten- 
ance of every intelligent agriculturist, and are almost invari- 
ably well attended, as they should be. Racing is less repu- 
table than it once was, and we are glad to note such changes 
in the direction of public sentiment that one may reasonably 
indulge the hope that racing, if not entirely abandoned, will 
soon be left solely to the patronage of such classes as are 
entitled to no regard at the hands of respectable society. 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 493 

The practice origiually came to us from England, and re- 
mains as the relic of an early and corrupt age in the mother 
country. Even there it is losing much of its former interest 
and prestige. IsTo English author now speaks of it except 
as belonging to sportsmen alone ; and, although all appear 
to be somewhat fastidious not to ottend that peculiar species 
of gentry, they do bear outspoken testimony to the degener- 
acy of the horse throughout the United Kingdom, and in- 
directly hint at racing as one of the prominent causes of 
this sorrowful phenomenon. Their views find expression in 
such language as this : 

''There can not be a severer satire on the English nation 
than this, from the absurd practice of running our race-horses 
at two or three years, and working others in various ways 
long before their limbs are knit, or their strength is devel- 
I oped, and cruelly exacting from them services far beyond 
I their powers, their age does not average a sixth part of 
Ithat of the last named horse," — (which was sixty-two years.) 
i In our country nearly all race-horses are run too young. 
' None of them ever possess qualities that can save them from 
'being injured, for breeding purposes, by such violent over- 
;i exertion. That the case is the same in England, we infer 
'from such statements as the following, by the author of the 
"Animal Kingdom," who seems to hesitate, however, about 
j tracing out the causes of the declension of which he speaks : 
'"It may be safely asserted that more horses die consumed 
I in England, in every ten years, than in any other country 
•iin the world in ten times that period, except those that per- 
jish in war." Kow, the English horse is not worse abused 
'than his fellows upon the continent — perhaps not so badly, 
j indeed — in respect to care and keeping; and there seems to 
l\he no good reason why such a state of things should exist 
iin Great Britain, unless it is the great and long-time prev- 
jalence of racing and hunting there. And that is the coun- 
Ury to which we might naturally turn to find the practical 
!| demonstration of the benefits of horse-racing, if such a thing 
Iwere not a mere fiction ! 



494 AMERICxiN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Auotlier well-known English veterinarian says, in refer- 
ence to the deterioration of the horse in his own country : 
" Any one, during the last twenty or twenty-five years, must 
be struck with the sad falling off there is every-where to 
be remarked in the quality of one-half and three-parts-bred 
horses exhibited for sale." Yet this class of animals em- 
brace the first edition from the racer's stock that pass into 
the hands of the farmer. This is certainly improvement 
backwards. 

"If horse-breeders, possessed of good judgment, would 
pay the same attention to breed and shape that Mr. Bake- 
well did with his sheep, they would probably attain their 
wishes in an equal degree." Is not this the work that 
racers claim to be doing as belonging to their especial de- 
partment ? and then, in spite of all the stimulus of eques- 
trian exercise, to be outdone by a sheep-man ! 

" Our running-horses," says Youatt, " still maintain their 
speed, although their endurance, generally speaking, is greatly 
diminished." Can not the races keep up their own running- 
stock? If they can, what mean such expressions as the 
above? Is it not clear that the whole system of racing, so 
far as the pretences that it improves stock are concerned, is 
a miserable failure and a gross imposition on the public — 
such a sham, in fact, as no man of right feeling and princi-j 
pie would willingly be identified with ? ; 

One more reference, and we dismiss the subject. Youatt 
lays it down as an axiom in breeding " that like will pro- 
duce like," adding that "the progeny will inherit the general 
or mingled qualities of the parent." The reader is already 
aware of our qualified dissent from so sweeping a state- 
ment; but, applying it as we fairly may, in the present argu- 
ment, what conclusion are we forced to arrive at when Wb 
find the same author making such positive assertions as 
those? "Our running-horses are considerably diminished;" 
and, " Our hunters and hackneys are not what they used to 
be ; " and, " Our draught and carriage horses are, perhaps, 
improved in value." The racers and their offspring degen- 



MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 495 

eratiug — " falling off" — " not what they used to be," while 
horses bred from other sources — those that the racer discards 
and leaves entirely to the farmer — are " improved in value." 
Here we have an epitome of the history of racing upon 
both sides of the Atlantic — the whole thing in a nutshell. 
The race-horses are failing; the farmers' horses are im- 
proving. 

: "We sincerely believe that the farmers of our country are 
:he only men possessing the intelligence, the enterprise, the 
inoral character, and the standing necessary to successfully 
■3onduct the great work of reform and progress in respect 
to the horse. It behooves them, as men of this character, to 
frown down the system of racing as an unqualified abuse of 
■he horse and a potent agency of iniquity and vice. 



496 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER XX. 

GENTLING, BREAKING, AND TRAINING. 
GENTLING. 

The time tolaegiu the work of gentling is seldom improved 
by stock- raisers. They have so much else to do that they 
can not devote the requisite time and attention to this mat- 
ter; and, in fact, not a few of them neglect this important 
department of their business entirely, committing it alto- 
gether to other hands. In many cases, professional stock- 
raisers do not so much as superintend the feeding and salt- 
ing of any of their own stock, much less gentling and breaking 
their colts. Such men must be but poorly qualified for the 
important vocation which they do indeed follow — afar oli"— 
and many serious evils result from their negligence. 

In relation to the subject-matter of this entire chapter, 
there is a deplorable ignorance and lack of interest among 
the masses of our farmers. It is quite as much as thousands 
of them care about, if they can })rovide some sort of food 
for their colts, and salt once a week. ISTo further pains are 
bestowed upon the young animal until he is old enough to 
be put to work; and then, instead of being gentled and 
trained for the duties he is to perfoi'm, he is very probably 
disposed of at a sacrifice of twenty or thirty dollars, or even 
more, in consequence of his being unbroken. The market 
value of a good colt is lessened by from twenty to fifty dol- 
lars, or even more, by this circumstance; and, as a rule, thei 
young horse trained for service, for either the saddle or har- 
ness, is worth fifty per cent, more upon that account than he 
was before. Thousands of our stock- raisers submit to this 
pecuniary loss every year, rather than ujidertake the labor! 
of breaking, which their timidity or indolence shrinks from.} 



GENTLING, BREAKING, AND TRAINING. 497 

It is comparatively a rare thing in this country to meet 
^ith a man that has taken pains to inform himself thor- 
oughly concerning the best modes of gentling the horse and 
training him for the different uses. The common — we had 
almost said the nearly universal — practice is to let the colt 
run unbroken until he is considered of suitable age to be 
put to work, and then to harness him forthwith beside some 
sedate old horse in a large wagon, and reduce him to sub- 
mission at once. This is a very injudicious process, to say 
the least of it, often proving dangerous to the other horse, 
or the manager of the team, and still more frequently ending 
iin sad injury to the colt. Nor is it a successful method. 
> Few colts can be said to be well-broken, or safe, when brought 
: .nto service in so rapid and abrupt a manner. How many 
i horses there are spoiled in breaking, so that they are always 
f, unreliable to work, or else can not be worked at all ! Such 
I will continue to be the case until a better and more judicious 
•system prevails in regard to these matters. One horse out 
-^of every five will be spoiled in breaking, either for the har- 
ness or the saddle, or for both. The terrible case of lock- 
I'jaw described in Chapter VII might be cited as an example 
|of the evils which flow from the unthoughtful management 
.'so common among our farmers. 

>. The public mind does not seem to be educated up to the 
i]level necessary for a proper understanding of this subject; 
;:but probably this proceeds more from a lack of popular in- 
: formation concerning it than from any other circumstance. 
It is certainly no small source of the difficulty that there is 
ISO inconsiderable a,n amount of reading matter upon it ac- 
•Jcessible to the mass of farmers. We have no American 
'>;work on the horse treating of these topics at all, and but one 
jfrom abroad that has attained any respectable circulation in 
lour country ; and, although this is an invaluable authority, 
in many respects, it is, upon the whole, illy adapted to the 
[^peculiar wants of the horseman in America. The conse- 
[jquence of this is, that here almost every man has his own 
way, difiering from that of all his neighbors, and no sys- 
1 32 



498 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

tematic mode is to be found in general practice anywhere. 
Yet, there is much less to be said concerning the defects 
of the multiform and diverse modes existing in the United 
States than of the almost entire neglect of all modes. So 
many hundreds have we seen in our time who gave the sub- 
ject no attention whatever, and, when spoken to in regard ! 
to the advantages of a systematic course of training for 
young colts, would reply, with all the self-satisfaction char- 
acteristic of ingrained stupidity, "Well, the old plan is good 
enough for me ; it is the way I used to see it done when I 
was a boy, and suits me very well." 

So far as the general management of the horse is con- 
cerned, there has been but little improvement in many parts 
of the land within the memory of even that fabulous indi- 
vidual, "the oldest inhabitant." In some sections, it is true, 
enterprising men have taken hold of the matter and pushes 
forward the good work, greatly to their own advantage andj 
that, also, of the commnuities among whom they reside. 
But, as exceedingly few, or perhaps none, of these gentlemeiii 
have ever enlightened the general public, to any great ex 
tent, through the medium of the press, the benefits of their 
improved methods have been restricted to quite circumscribed! 
territorial limits. 

There can be no doubt that the loss to the total wealth 
of the country resulting from the inferior training of oui 
horses would reach a startling aggregate, if it could only bfl 
put into figures. We have few thoi-oughly-trained horses 
for either the harness or saddle. The great fault lies in negJ 
lecting to begin the work at the proper time. The colt 
may be educated as well as the child — not to the same ex-; 
tent, of course, but with an equal degree of certainty. In, 
the main, the rules which govern in one case are applicabl« 
in the other, also. As more than one wise man has said tba 
childhood is the most favorable time for education, and that 
it is never too early to begin, so the wisest of veterinarian! 
will agree that the best time to commence training the horsj 
is before he has outgrown the condition of 



li 



j( 



GENTLING, BREAKING, AND TKAINIilG. 499 

THE YOUNG COLT. 

Take him in hand at once, and gentle him. Do not let 
ive days pass after he is foaled until you begin to handle 
lim. Never let the colt know what fear is, and yet you 
Qust control him. Be certain to hold him fast before he 
•ecomes strong enough to break away from you. There 
tever should be a time when the colt does not recog-nize the 
lastery of his keeper, and the necessity for obedience. Never- 
heless, every attention bestowed upon the little fellow should 
e gentle and kind. ISTo one should be permitted to frighten 
(im or to strike him with a whip ; he will always remember 
t, and will probably shy from the latter as long as he lives. 
n after years the use of the whip may sometimes be neces- 
lary, but at this tender age the colt should not know that 
lach a thing exists. 

< The foal should be handled every day until he is perfectly 
ijentle, and all timidity and shyness have vanished. By a 
Jttle habitual patting and caressing, he will become very 
t;rougly attached to his master. The colt that is allowed to 
'an until he is six months old, or more, and has no other 
'knowledge of his master except as a terrible monster to be 
jared, or is in the habit of shying away from him, will sel- 
t)m get over this feeling entirely. It is at this early age 
lat most of the vices of the mature horses are begotten. 

An important truth, which stock-raisers and owners of 
toung colts seem nearly always to overlook, is that the colt 

ft to himself, without proper training, will just as certainly 
'an into bad habits, and those vices which so much detract 
jom the value of many horses, as that the child will go to 
iin when he is left to himself. The instructions of the Di- 
Ine Word are to "train up a child in the way he should go, 
nd when he is old he will not depart from it." The same 
indamental law of education applies to the colt ; and as " a 
Mid left to himself bringeth his mother to shame," so a colt 
(ft to himself bringeth his master into trouble, and it may 
e very serious trouble. 



500 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

The colt must be kept from the vices which curse aud ruin 
80 many horses ; or, if he has unfortunately fallen into any \ 
of them, he must be broken of them — now in his tender 
years, before his habits become strengthened and inveterate 
through long continuance in them. The man who, having 
much to do with horses or colts, has not learned that they are 
the creatures of habit, has studied his business to but very 
little purpose, if he has studied it all. Bad habits must be 
either broken or prevented, and here, most emphatically, the 
stock- raiser will find it true that " an ounce of prevention is 
worth a pound of cure." It is much easier to keep the colt 
from ever acquiring ugly tricks than it is to break the mature 
horse of any settled vice. 

If the work of educating the young colt be neglected, no 
subsequent pains will be likely to make good the deficiency. 
As "youth is the seed-time of life," and the favorable time 
for improvement, so is the colt's age the proper time for be- 
ginning the instructions to be imparted to the horse. The 
colt of three or four years, unbroken aud untamed, is like the 
youth who has never known parental control. What igno- 
rance do we find in both — what indolence, what obstinacy, 
what impatience of restraint, what rebellion against govern- 
ment, no matter how mild and judicious ! Is not this the 
history of many horses and of their vices, such as backing, 
shying, kicking, rearing, running away, breaking the halter, 
continued restiveness, and others of similar character ? The 
farmer does, indeed, pay dearly for his neglect in regard to 
training his young stock. 

Every farmer should likewise consider within himself what 
each of his colts is best suited for, what place the young ani- 
mal shall be destined to fill ; and, as soon as this point is set- 
tled, he should go to work at once and conduct the whole 
process of training with a view to the especial purpose se- 
lected. All this, too, can be done at a very early age better 
than later. It may be laid down as a rule that the colt is 
Busceptible of training for whatever service is desired of him, 
and that no failures would occur if his peculiar adaptedness 



BREAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 501 

' were properly studied and understood. We may mold and 
' fiishion his disposition, control his actions, teach him obedi- 
ence and submission, and habituate him to the performance 
' of whatever duty is deemed best for him. If properly 
trained, he will be safe and true, and utterly free from vice, 
in almost every instance. 
i The process of gentling should be carried on as opportunity 
* offers — by lifting his legs and feeling of them frequently, 
handling his head and ears, stroking his neck and body, and 
occasionally by opening his mouth. ISTot onl}^ should all this 
take place before weaning-time, while the colt is still w^ith 
his mother, but a great deal more besides. The bridle may 
be shortened and the bit put into his mouth. The bit should 
''be a very small one, and handled carefully, so as not to hurt 
lihis mouth. He may be allowed to champ it for a time, but 
"^^ should never be hitched or led about with the bridle upon 
the first occasion of its use. After he has become somewhat 
-accustomed to wearing it, as he will when it has been put 
ion three or four times, he may be led about with it, a little 
i longer and further each time. The first few times this is 
jdone it should be by the side of his mother, and while she is 
'(being led along; then he may follow at a little distance be- 
'^hind her, and presently he may be taken a few paces in ad- 
ij vance of her. 

i It should be some time before he is tied. When ready for 
I this part of his training, especially if he is to be made stand 
'b^^ himself, it would be best to have a good, strong halter, 
J80 as not to hurt his mouth. Be as kind and gentle toward 
(him as possible, but always continuing the attitude of a mas- 
^ter. He must be made to understand that the keeper's will 
fis his highest law, and that no alternative is open to his 
I choice, but obedience alone is possible. Do not suffer him, 
i at any time, to obtain any advantage in pulling about by the 
i halter or bridle, or in running away. One time of the latter 
! occurrence may nearly ruin him. It will take months of 
1 careful management to correct its evil effects, and often it 
1 forms the beginning of a series of bad habits. As he be- 



502 AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 

comes familiarized to standing hitched by the bridle, Lo 
should be left thus somewhat longer, from time to time. 

The next thing in order is to accustom him to the saddle. 
A small one should be procured, laid gently on his back, and 
then removed without the girth having been buckled. This 
course may be continued until all fear of the strange weight 
is removed, when the girths may be fastened about him. If 
a saddle of small size, such as will fit his back, can not be 
procured, a bag or blanket may be used, and similarl}' fast- 
ened, and thus will answer nearly the same purpose. 

The person who feeds the colt is the one to gentle and 
train him. It will be of great benefit, in this process, to se- 
lect such bits of food as the colt can eat, and give it to him 
from the hand. By this course he learns from whom it is 
that he receives his food, and his friendship is readily secured^ 
The work of gentling is well done only when the colt is jper- 
fectly gentle, all his fears of man are removed, and he will 
allow himself to be handled with the utmost freedom. The 
great objects to be accomplished arS to gain his entire confi- 
dence, and to accustom him to the most implicit obedience, 
both at once. When this is the case, his training becomes 
an easy matter, and his future usefulness is assured. These 
ends can best be attained, in all cases, by kindness and mod- 
eration. The many failures that attend the labor of break- 
ing are generally the consequence of a neglected colthood, 
and of harsh, rough usage subsequently. " There is no fault," 
says Youatt, "for which a breeder should so invariably dis- 
charge his servankas cruelty, or even harshness, toward the 
rising stock ; for the principle on which their after useful- 
ness is founded is early attachment to and confidence in man, 
and obedience, implicit obedience, resulting principally from 
this." 

THE ONE-YEAR OLD COLT. 

At one-year old, the colt should be perfectly gentle, and 
familiar with the halter, bridle, saddle, and the difi:erent parts 
of the harness, and should be accustomed to follow readily 
when led by either the halter or bridle, and to stand tied 



BEEAKING, GENTLING, AND TEAINING. 503 

either iu company with other horses or alone. A good 
beginning will now have been made, a foundation laid upon 
correct principles, and what remains to be done, though it 
is a great deal and very important, will come almost in the 
natural order of things. 

The colt should be tied occasionally by the side of some 
old and stead}- horse in the shafts, at first walking along the 
road in this way for half a mile or so. "When this has been 
done a few times, so that he has become used to the shaking 
of the harness and the motion of the wheels, the pair may be 
put to a slow trot on some level piece of road. Under such 
discipline, he will soon learn that he is not to be hurt, while 
his former experience will not leave him in any doubt as to 
the necessity of submitting to what is required of him, and 
I thus he will soon learn to regard these new movements as 
: quite in the line of his duty. 

j Before he is quite ready to change places with the old 
j horse, and step into the shafts, he must be taught the use 
and guidance of the lines. The old horse should not now be 
hitched to the shafts at all, but the harness, including the 
lines, be transferred to his young companion ; and then, with 
some one to lead, let them be driven around a few times in 
company. The old horse may next be unfastened, and the colt 
driven with the lines by himself, some one \valking by his 
head. This exercise should be continued until he becomes 
thoroughly accustomed to it, and especially to being guided 
by the lines. "When sufiiciently trained in this way, he may 
be put into the shafts, which should be gently lowered upon 
his sides several times in succession, until he understands 
what they are, and how little he has to fear from their touch.. 

A light buggy or gig may be pulled along after him, at 
this stage of the proceedings, but for no great distance, with 
the colt between the shafts, yet not fastened to them. After 
a little while, the traces may be made fast, and then, with 
the old horse by his side, he may take his first lessons iu 
drawing the buggy, which are to be commenced slowly and 
carefully. First move the old horse along, when the colt 



504 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

will naturally move off also, aud ought not to be allowed to 
stop until lie becomes evidently tired. The old horse, through- 
out this exercise, should have a saddle on and the bridle over 
his neck, ready for riding. If the colt moves off freely and 
kindly, after a few minutes let the person at the head lead 
the old horse a little way in advance, gradually increasing 
the distance until he is several lengths ahead of the colt in 
the shafts. Without stopping the old horse, let the assistant 
now spring into the saddle, and keep lengthening the interval 
between himself and the buggy, until, at length, the old horse 
is taken entirely out of sight of the colt. 

All this should be attended to on level ground, and with 
a very light vehicle. If carried out with care and kindness, 
this method will never fail of success. "We can not too 
strongly insist upon the happy mingling of gentleness and 
firmness, which should characterize the young animal's 
treatment throughout, or censure too severely harshness or 
irresolution. If the colt stops, let him stand for a time, and 
then, with gentle urgings, he will start on again. This he 
should be taught to do, in fact, before being separated from 
the old horse; and not only this, but even to back a little, 
which is likely to prove one of his hardest lessons. Very 
slight efforts should be used at first to make him back, as he 
will resist them with considerable obstinacy. It will be suf- 
ficient to induce him to take two or three steps backward, 
adding another step each time the exercise is repeated, until 
he becomes used to it. 

All of these performances are designed to accustom the 
colt to the bridle, the saddle, the harness, the shafts of the 
buggy, and the guidance of the lines, and to complete the 
work of gentling before he has strength or inclination to dis- 
obey. To these ends, he should be exercised frequently, but 
without requiring from him any real labor while so young 
and tender. 

THE COLT AT TWO YEARS OLD. 

During his third year, the colt should be continued in the 
same training as before, aud occasionally he inay make short 



BREAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 505 

trips in tlie buggy or other light vehicle, but should never 
be driven more than three or four miles at a time. If there 
be any considerable hill, the wheel should be locked going 
down it, and when ascending it the driver should walk 
alongside, so that the colt may have nothing but the vehicle 
to pull. 

This is the time to train him for the saddle also. A small 
boy — say one of ten or twelve years old — may get on his back, 
and, after sitting there a short time, should get oif again. 
The first time he is mounted there should be no attempt to 
ride him around ; he is to be gradually taught this lesson, as 
every other. lie should be exercised in this way as often as 
convenient; the oftener the better. But in no case should 
any one be allowed to jump on his back. The boy that 
mounts him should either be assisted to do so, or should stand 
upon some elevation, and then get on as easily and lightly as 
possible. Great injury has resulted from a violation of these 
rules. The bones of the back have not yet the strength and 
solidity belonging to the full-grown horse, and, if persons 
are in the habit of jumping suddenly upon him, there is great 
danger that he maybe disfigured for life, from that unsightly 
appearance called sway-back. (See Chapter III.) The colt 
should be ridden often, not merely for the purpose of gent- 
ling him, but to accustom him to the road and the different 
objects to be met with along the way. 

, BREAKING. 

j If the judicious course recommended in the preceding sec- 
I tions of this chapter has been systematically carried out, the 

farmer will find the great bugbear of " breaking," as it new 
] is to so many, well-nigh disposed of already, so that all which 
I now remains is to put the young animal at work, when the 
1 proper time comes, and gradually habituate him to regular, 
i continuous labor. It is much to be regretted, however, that 

all farmers who own colts do not appreciate the importance 
I of attending to the work of gentling and training during 
\ the susceptible years of the colt age. Such is the case, un- 



506 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

fortunately, with the great majority of them in the United 
States. The loss sustained in consequence of this negligence 
is tenfold greater than they are aware. 

To what we have already said upon these important topics, 
we may here add the emphatic testimony of Youatt. He says : 
" The process of breakiug-iu should commence from the rery 
period of weaning;" and, again, "The foal should be early 
handled, * * * accustomed to the halter when led about, 
and even tied up. The tractability and good temper and 
value of the horse depend a great deal more upon this than 
breeders are aware." 

As it is, the colt is generally left until he is old enough 
to be put to work, and then taken up, wild and vicious, at 
the age of three years or more, to be broken to service. 
Such a horse will but seldom be perfectly gentle, and, in 
consequence, some of his best capabilities will remain only 
partially developed. The most favorable opportunities, by far, 
have been lost, yet the wild colt must not be neglected and 
given over as untamable and useless. From a former age 
there has been handed down to our farmers a rough, dan- 
gerous, and seldom wholly successful method of breaking — 
that of thrusting the wild colt into the harness, and before 
the wagon, by the side of some large horse, and simply 
enduring his kicking, rearing, and plunging, until, from 
sheer exhaustion, the animal, blowing and all afoam, is re- 
duced to some degree of sullen obedience. Happily, this is 
being superseded, among the more intelligent and better-in- 
formed class of stock-raisers, by other modes more rational 
and generous. The most famous and, without doubt, the 
most successful of them all, is that known as 

THE RAREY METHOD. 

This derives its name from the fact that it was first car- 
ried to perfection and given a world-wide ce ebrity by the 
late Mr. John S. Rarey, of Groveport, Franklin County, 
Ohio, although it was not wholly original with him. That 
gentleman's experience in training young colts and in tam- 



BEEAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 



507 



ing the vicious of a larger growth was quite extensive and 
very successful in our own country. In 1858 he went to 
England, and created such 2i furore there that, it is said, the 
gross proceeds of his exhibitions, lessons, etc., amounted to 
the snug sum of £25,000, or about §120,000. 

The annexed engrav- 
ing represents the halter 
recommended by Mr. 
Rarey for all purposes, 
with the addition of his 
ordinary breaking-bit. 
The halter is of leather, 
and made like an or- 
dinary head-stall, but 
rather lighter. A lead- 
ing-strap being buckled 
to the nose-band, either 
before or behind, any 
thing may be done with 
the colt short of mount- 
ing. The method by 
which this halter is con- 
verted into a very use- 
ful breaking-bridle is 
quite simple, conisting 
merely in attaching any 
bit which may be se- 
lected to the rings con- 
necting the check-pieces 
to the nose-band. The 
attachment is made by 
means of two small billets and buckles, as shown in the cut. 

The "Karey mode" consists in conquering the animal by 
depriving him of the use of his limbs, and making him feel 
that he is utterly powerless in the hands of the operator, and 
must submit to whatever is required of him. In other words, 
it carries the unbroken horse or colt through a rapid and vig- 




MK. RABEY'S HALTER, OR BRIDLE, FOR COLTS. 



508 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



orons course of training, which is both systematic and severe, 
and embraces, in a short space of time, all the essential les- 
sons that are to be taught him — all that has been neglected 
in a previous lifetime. As a means of taming wild and vi- 
cious horses, it is, beyond question, the best method known ; 
and its ease, rapidity, and almost invariable success renders 
it a most important step forward in the science of horse- 
breaking. No person who thoroughly understands it would 
now think of going back to any of the older practices. 




THE BAREY KNEE-STRAP. 



The first step, of course, is to halter the animal, which it 
is by no means an easy matter to do in many cases. To 
efiect this purpose, Mr. Earey and his pupils are said to 
have resorted occasionally to the use of certain drugs. Their 
method of procedure, it is stated, was in accordance with 
the following directions: "Rub a little of the oil of cum- 
min upon your hands, and approach the horse upon the 
windward side, so that he will smell the cummin. The 
horse will permit you to come up to him without any 
trouble. Rub your hand gently over the nose, so as to get 
a little of the oil on it, and you can lead him anywhere. 
Put eight drops of the oil of rhodium into a silver thimble ; 
very gentl}'- open the horse's mouth, and turn the oil in the 
thimble upon his tongue, and he will follow you like a pet 
dog, and is your pupil and your friend." The use of any 
sort of drugs or essences, in connection with horse -training, 
is of doubtful propriety in any case, yet is, perhaps, admis- 
sible when employed to catch a brute that is otherwise unap- 
proachable. It may well be questioned whether such agen 
cies do not prove injurious to the horse ; and even if this be 
not so, their good effects are of too transient a nature to 



BREAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 



509 



endow them with any great value. The owner should be- 
ware of confiding too much in their supposed benefits, or 
he may suddenly get into danger from his vicious animal. 

After the horse is bridled, the next step is to throw him 
upon his side, which may be done quite easily and without 




THE USE OF THE KNEE-STRAP. 



any risk by means of two straps. The first of these should 
be a strong strap of thick leather, two feet long, and at least 
an inch in width. It is so well represented in the accom- 
panying cut that any further description is unnecessary. 
The end without the buckle should be fastened to the buckle, 
about twenty inches from the latter. The left foot is lifted 
up to the body, an assistant, meanwhile, managing the bridle, 
and the strap is slipped over the knee, and pushed up over 
the lower pastern joint over the; ankle and close to the body 
of the arm; or, if the strap is furnished with the large loop 



510 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOuK. 

ehown in the engraving, it will be necessary to lift the leg 
first, and then buckle the strap. The animal now stands on 
three legs, and is utterly incapable of doing any mischief, 
unless it be with the teeth. Let him remain thus for five 
or ten minutes. If the knee-strap does not hold the foot 
pretty close to the body, draw the buckle a little tighter. 
If he springs and jumps about, let him have bridle-room, 
and satisfy himself that he is securely fastened and can not 
get his foot down. The annexed engraving, which is a 
sketch of "Cruiser," Mr. Rarey's most celebrated conquest, 
at the second stage of the preparations for his taming, well 
indicates the application of this straps 

The second strap should be six feet long, and furnished 
with an inch-and-a-half ring at one end, securedly sewed 
fast. When used in connection with the surcingle, as Mr. 




THE KAREY LEG-STRAP. 



Rarey's practice was, it need not be so long; and, in any 
case, a good, stout leather loop, such as is shown in the sub- 
joined cut, will be better than the iron ring. The strap is 
to be noosed around the ankle of the right fore-foot, the end 
extending over the animal's shoulders, and held firmly in the 
right hand of the operator, who stands abreast the left shoul- 
der, and jerks up the right fore-foot, when the horse falls, 
of course, upon his knees. Here he must remain, if the as- 
sistant, who manages the bridle, does his duty, and the oper- 
ator himself keeps the strap around the right foot drawn 
tightly over the top of the shoulders. He may struggle vio- 
lently, and try to get up from his kneeling posture, but, by 



BKEAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING, 



511 



keeping his head down and his right foot well up, he will 
soon grow tired of this, and, before long, show a dispo- 
sition to lie down. The operator should encourage him to 
do so by kind, soothing words, and, with one hand in the 
mangle, try to pull him over on the left side, while with the 
other hand he should be rubbed and carressed. The assist- 




ME. BABEY'S APPABATUS ABBANGED FOR THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 



ant, holding the bridle, should turn the head toward the right 
side, to facilitate the movement, and to compel him to fall, 
when he finally concludes to do so, upon the left side, so 
that his back will be toward the operator. His struggles 
may now begin again, but if his head is held firmly to the 
ground, and his left foot firmly kept back, he will soon give 
over. 

We have described these operations as the work of two 
men, because, in this way, the process becomes so simple and 



512 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 

easy that no intelligent farmer or farm-hand, of ordinary 
strength and activity, need be afraid to subject his powers 
to the experimental test of the Rarey method. But in Mr. 
Rarey's own practice and instructions no assistant was al- 
lowed the operator — a limitation which was compensated in 
a slight degree, however, by the addition of a surcingle, 
buckled on as represented in the portrait of " Cruiser," page 
509, and also in that on page 511, which shows the whole 
apparatus arranged for the final struggle between the horse 
and his tamer. Here it will be seen that the leg-strap is 
passed through the surcingle, under tlie belly. It is grasped 
by the right hand, well gloved, just back of the surcingle, 
while the left hand manages the 1)ridle-reins. The horse is 
urged to move a little, which he can only do by hopping, 
when suddenly tlie left leg is drawn up to the surcingle and 
there kept. At this, he falls on his knees, of course; but, 
if possessed of any spirit, he wmU soon begin bounding into 
the air upon his hind legs; and then the o[)erator must be 
active and on the alert, using both hands, as above directed, 
to the best possible advantage, and never getting so far for- 
ward as to expose himself to the danger of being caught 
under the horse when he falls upon his knees. Sooner or 
later the animal will become exhausted, whether he resists 
by violent plunges or sulkily remains on his knees, and 
when this takes place he will be glad to lie down of his 
own accord. The right rein must be kept tight, so as to 
keep his head turned away toward the off-side, and, if need 
be, the operator may use the further argument of a little 
pressure, exerted to pull the horse toward himself. A man 
of nerve and activity, especially after he has had a little ex- 
perience, is likely to prefer carrying the process through with- 
out the aid of an assistant. 

Once fairly subdued by these means, and lying upon his 
side, the horse will be indisposed to get up for the present, 
and now comes the golden opportunity for profiting by all 
that is past. The animal must be treated with the utmost 
gentleness, and every effort made to quiet his fears and 



BREAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 



51; 



soothe his terrible excitement, which often causes him to 
tremble exceedingly. lie must be convinced that, although 
completely mastered, he is in no way to be hurt. Confidence 
must replace terror, and docility his stubborn or vicious way- 
wardness. Let the operator stroke his hair with the hand; 
pat his body, neck, and head ; handle his feet, legs, and ears, 
and, in fact, all parts of his body, accompanying all this 
with kind and reassuring words. The man may now sit 
down upon him, turn around from side to side, lie down 
upon him, etc. The more motions and changes that can be 
gone through with the better. 




THE HORSE TAMED BY RARET'S METHOD. 



j The saddle should be brought and gently laid upon .hirfi, 
the stirrups hanging on each side of his body; likewise all 
parts of the harness, piece by piece, and the chains, if they 
are to be used, laid across the prostrate form. After these 
Maneuvers have been carried forward for half an hour, or 

fereabouts, and all signs of fear =?eem to have departed, the 
33 



514 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

straps (and surcingle, if one has been employed) may be re- 
moved, the head liberated, and the horse encouraged to rise 
to his feet. Many persons make the animals undergoing 
this process lie down in this way a number of times, until 
they readily submit to the operation, and fall first upon their 
knees and then upon their sides, almost at the word of com- 
mand, and until the last vestiges of fear of saddle, harness, 
chains, and even shafts, have vanished. It is astonishing how 
quickly this will follow when once the horse is conquered. 
He may be taught obedience in almost every particular. But 
this requires constant, close attention, and great patience, 
and sometimes the work of breaking is not completed short 
of some days. 

Some persons bring the buggy and lay the shafts on the 
horse while he is down, and let the wheels pass around him 
near his body. After he is on his feet again, the saddle may 
be brought and laid carefully on his back. If he submits to 
this, well ; if not, he must be taken through another course 
of exercise on his side, and this must be continued until he 
is willing to allow not only the saddle to be put on him but 
every portion of the harness as well. Only one piece of the 
gearing should be tried on him at a time, and, if he scares 
or jumps at any of these, remove them and lay him down 
again, and take him through another course of exercise. 

The first time that he is ridden, it should be in the stable,, 
where he has been laid on his side ; and here he may be 
mounted by some lad, just as he has risen from his recum- 
bent position, and led around the stable several times with 
the young rider on his bare back. This operation must h& 
frequently repeated, until he becomes accustomed to the bur- 
den. He should not be hitched up in the shafts until he haa 
become peifectly familiar with them, and all traces of fear 
have disappeared. He may be prepared for hitching up by, 
being led into the shafts frequently, when they may be liftedlj 
by his side, raised up and down, etc., until he is satisfied they| 
will not harm him. If he jumps about and shows any 
timidity, continue the lesson till he submits, and will perniil 



BEEAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 515 

he shafts to be laid upon his back or neck, or by his side, 
f he is obstinately fractions or scar}^, lock up his fore-feet, 
tc, again. Under such discipline he can not long hold 
ut. 

Whatever you undertake to teach him, persevere in the 
istructions until you succeed. If the horse has been thor- 
nghly worn-out and conquered at the outset, there will not 
e much trouble subsequently; but, unless that has been 
one, it will be a somewhat prolonged course before he is 
rought under proper subjection. But always remain kind, 
lOugh firm. Allow no harsh words or measures of any 
ind. Let all your handling of him be gentle and soothing, 
3membering that the law of kindness is always more potent 
lan that of force. After the harness has been put on, an 
ssistant may go behind him, and, taking the traces in his 
ands, pull back, so that a gentle pressure will be brought to 
bar upon his shoulders; and when he has kindly submitted 
» this, he may be hitched up in the buggy, and gently started 
r in it. 

[Another plan, besides that here indicated, for familiarizing 
im with the shafts is the method laid down in a preceding 
ction of this chapter for the training of the one-year-old 
)lt; namely, to hitch him by the side of another very gentle 
Drse, harnessed in the buggy, and, with their heads tied 
aite close together, to drive them around until the un- 
roken one will lead kindly beside the other. When this is 
'jcomplished, the two may change places, and the exercise 
isumed as before. Still another mode, which is in prac- 
pe to some extent, is to hitch the unbroken horse in a cart, 
id put in a very strong though gentle horse before him, 
|e two thus forming a "tandem." The management of 
e hinder one, by either leading or driving, will be work 
ough for one person. After a time the forward horse 
'ay be unhitched, and led in advance of the colt, the dis- 
nce being gradually increased until the novice finds he 
in go alone, when the old horse may be taken o& the field 
^tirely. 



516 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



\ 



"When the process of breaking is commenced, it should be 
pursued vigorously every day, until the wild horse is thor- 
oughly and completely broken ; and when put in the shafts 
he should be driven freely. With such an animal energetic 
measures are necessary to teach him that you are his master, 
and that he must submit to your control. Do not begin the 
arduous task of breaking him until you have the harness, 
and every thing else that you expect to use, ready at hand, 
and strong ; and then keep him going until he is conquered, 
broken, and trained. The directions given in the case of the 
young colt for starting, backing, and holding back in going 
down hill will apply none the less here, and ought to be fully 
followed, observing only this difference, that the stronger 
the animal, the more he can bear. There will be much less 
need of favoring him, of course, than the young and tender 
colt. 

SADDLE HORSES. 

It is not so much our purpose to enter into detailed direc 
tions for training the horse for the saddle 
as it is to point out natural adaptedness ol 
form and gait for this purpose. Some horses 
are naturally so well suited for this use thai 
they travel lightly, and with ease, from the 
first time they are ever put to it, and such only need contro 
and a little trainins: to make most excellent saddle-horses^ 

A particular form or build ol 

the horse generally brings 

about this result. Light, clear 

limbs; a quick, ready step 

high and free ; the hips drop' 

ping from the top down ware 

to the roots of the tail; th* 

tail low, and well-set in tbt! 

'^ hips. These are the qualitiei; 

indicative of a good saddle-horse, and of which none bein^j 

present it is useless to attempt to make the horse a desirabl 

hackney. Many horses exceedingly valuable in other capacil' 





BREAKING, GENTLING AND TRAINING. 



517 



vies are of no account in this one. Their feet are large and 
joarse ; they lack quickness and suppleness ; their motions 
Jire dull and heavy, and they drag their hind limbs along in 
;i most awkward, sluggish manner. High, sharp shoulders 
|md hips, with the tail set high — almost on a level, in fact, 
,|Vlth the top of the hips — never belong to a good saddle- 
.lorse. 

I There is a breed of pacing horses in our country that almost 
nvariably make excellent saddle-horses. These are natural 
[)acers, taking to this move- 
Qent almost from their births 
Lnd havino; no other travel- 
ing gait. Horses not natu- 
_^ally pacers are often broken 
b the gait by tying a short 
ide-line to the right side of 
he bit, and then to the stir- 
I tip, so that the head will be 
lUlled to the right every 
ime a step is taken. The 
ame end will be answered 
y holding the right rein t ._,. 

losely drawn with the hand, 

jius giving the horse in his forward progress a rocking mo- 
ion. Other means have occasionally been practiced to break 
he horse to this gait. The horse that is not naturally a 
(acer is seldom a very desirable animal under the saddle 
rhen made such by artilicial means. 

I Another exceedingly pleasant and eas}^ gait is the "fox- 
tot," as it is called, which may be taught almost any horse 
,f small, clean limbs and feet, and a quick, active step. This 
S done by gradually forcing the animal into a movement 
'aster than a walk, but never allowing him to strike a trot, 
ilontinued careful practice will make this motion a confirmed, 
labit. 

In the army, officers' and cavalry horses are preferably 
(hosen from natural trotters, their gait being one consistent 




518 



AMEKTCAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



with the severe exercise of long marches and great endurance. 
Those men, whether in civilized or other lands, who spend 

most of their lives in the 
saddle, seldom practice 
their horses in more than 
two movements faster thau 
a walk — the trot and the 
gallop. A sustained, rapid 
trot is a hard gait for the 
inexperienced rider ; hut, 
when one is inured to it, 
no other seems comparable 
with it for long journeys. 
General Sheridan's famous 
black stallion, which bore him to the field of Opequan Creek 
from "Winchester, "twenty miles away" — an occasion already 
celebrated in history and song — is said to have been one of 
the hardest-gaited horses that man ever bestrode — one which 
it would be a sore task for many a professional jockey to have 
to ride. 




.\-i 



HORSES FOR THE BUGGY AND CARRIAGE. 

Usually, the horse of the American farmer must be some- 
what accustomed to almost every variet}^ of exercise — to the 

saddle, the buggy, and the car- 
riage as well as the plow and the 
wagon. Hard labor, on the road 
or in the field, impairs the quali- 
ties for use under the saddle, and; 
the farm-horse is not generally 
well suited to the carriage. Yet,, 
a horse of fine form and limb' 
will always be more active in the shafts of any vehicle thaa 
one that is coarse and raw-boned. 

The best carriage-horses are not those of largest size, 
They should have height and length, but the body should be 
light and compact, with small, clean limbs, and a hard mus-i 




BREAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 



519 



cle. Let this be the mold from which all selections are made 
of horses for the buggy and carriage. It is the most beauti- 
ful, no less than the most serviceable. Directions have al- 
ready been given in the preceding section of this chapter for 
breaking the colt and the horse for these uses. Constant ex- 
ercise in the carriage is essential to perfection of training. 
Horses that are matched, or those that habituall}' work to- 
gether, should be often changed from side to side. This will 
prevent or break np certain bad habits that such horses are 
apt to contract when always placed on the same side. 

DRAUGHT HORSES. 

These embrace the heaviest and strongest breeds of horses. 
Large feet and legs are quite in place here, with powerful 




joints and muscles; but, of course, it is utterly out of the 
question to expect rapidity of motion from a draught horse. 



520 



AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 




'j « 






BEEAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 521 

The Dutch horse, originally from Pennsylvania, is the one 
most used in this country for the constant wear and tear of 
heavy wagoning, and similar labors, and for these purposes 
possesses a peculiar adaptedness. 

In the draught horse it is desirable that there be a much 
less slanting direction of the shoulder — that is, of the scapula 
(see 13, in cut on page 24) — than in the horse designed for 
rapid motion, in order that there may be more weight thrown 
into the collar, and that the burden of the draught may be 
more equally distributed along the whole length of the 
shoulder. Such a conformation, however, always indicates 
the capabilities of a slow, steady plodder merely. In regard 
to this particular, the artist who executed the full-page illus- 
tration opposite could hardly have had a fair specimen of 
the class for a model. An oblique shoulder is an essential 
prerequisite to speed, and especially to a maintenance of it. 
The engraving on page 519 shows the relative situations of 
the bones of the fore and hind extremities, and will doubt- 
less assist our readers to understand the subject more clearly. 

ROADSTERS 

Under this designation may be classed the stage and om- 
nibus horses, those for passenger carriages, saddle horses used 
habitually for long journeys, etc. The draught horse is by 
no means suited for these purposes, being too heavy and slow, 
and soon breaking down. The horse of small body and good 
length, with light, active limbs, is best adapted to the road. 
There is no better stock known for these employments than 
a cross with the Arabian or the Andalusian. The roadster 
should have no surplus flesh; his muscles must be hard and 
compact, his limbs well-shaped and trim, his joints full and 
round, and his foot and ankle sloping backward at an angle 
of forty-five degrees from the point of the toe. 

There are some horses with long bodies and quite short 
legs, and these make the worst roadsters in the world. The 
length of the body and that of the limbs should correspond. 
Some long legs, also, are very objectionable — too small, yet 



522 



AMERICAN FARMEE'S HORSE BOOK. 







BREAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 523 

nearly as large at the ankle as they are next the body ; the joints 
are too small and flat, and the ankles too straight, while the 
foot is round and " clumped." Horses no better limbed than 
this can possess no endurance on the road, and are very apt 
to be stumblers. 

The friendly-looking old customer opposite has evidently 
seen a considerable share of hard service in his day, but is 
still quite willing to do his part again whenever called upon. 
He is one of the stoutest built animals of his class. 

MULE BREAKING, TRAINING, ETC. 

On these heads not much need be said. The mule requires 
but little breaking or training, taking to work almost as 
though it was natural to him. He should be handled while 
a colt, and broken to the halter, and also to the saddle, if 
desired. Further than this not much is required until he is 
three years old, which is the proper age for the mule colt to 
begin to work. Then, if already halter-broken, he may at 
once be hitched up in the plow or wagon, by the side of 
another steady mule or horse, and at the end of the first day 
he will be as well broken as many a horse-colt will be at the 
end of a fortnight or a month. 

There are two classes of mules — the large and the small. 
The former are safest and most gentle. They are excellent 
for draught, while some of them make very fine matches for 
the carriage, in which they work well. In the buggy, also, 
they look finely. We hardly think a finer span can be turned 
out anywhere than a pair of large, well-formed black mules, 
with tail-hairs clipped and mane roached, well caparisoned, 
and before a nice carriage. In such capacities they are much 
in use in many parts of the South, where they are great fa- 
vorites. They are much safer than horses. Some of them 
make splendid animals under the saddle ; and, in fact, the 
finest pacer we ever saw was a large, light bay mule, in Gib- 
son County, Tennessee. 

Small mules are more hardy than large ones, but oiot so 
reliable, and sometimes they are a little vicious and in- 



524 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

tractable, especially in respect to kicking. Nor are they very 
safe or pleasant to ride. For ordinary farm-work, however, 
they are the most valuable animals in the world. A small, 
compactly-built mule will do more work in the plow or 
before the wagon than the best substitute the farmer can 
find. 



FRACTUEES. 525 



CHAPTER XXI. 

FRACTURES. 

It is not often that any of the bones in the horse's frame 
are broken ; but decidedly the most common occurrences of 
this kind take place at the hip and the hock, as described 
in appropriate sections of Chapter III. Fractures are of 
two kinds— ^simple and compound. In the former but one 
bone is broken, and does not protrude through the skin; in 
the latter either one or two bones are broken, and the sur- 
rounding ligaments are lacerated, so that the bone protrudes 
to or through the skin. 

FRACTURE OF THE SKULL. 

Occasionally the bones of the skull are fractured. Such 
cases nearly always terminate in death, sooner or later. 
Sometimes the sufferer seems greatly better— so much so, 
indeed, as to be returned to his customary duties; but there 
is danger of his falling dead upon any occasion of unusual 
exertion, or else apoplexy may set in and end his days. An 
injury of this character will be accompanied by slight con- 
vulsive motions of the entire body, by a hard, laborious 
breathing, and by a staggering gait. The eyes will be nearly 
closed, or sometimes quite so, the head carried hanging 
down, the lips pendent, and the saliva often flowing freely 
from the mouth. There is no remedy for a fractured skull. 

More injuries of this kind happen than farmers are aware 
of. The cause is generally the infliction of a severe blow 
upon the head by an enraged teamster, costing the owner 
the life of a valuable animal. If such blows do not fracture 
the cranium, and thus kill the horse, they are extremely apt 
to produce concussion of the brain, which results in mate- 



526 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

rial injury of a permanent nature. Especially is there danger 
of its destroying the sight or hearing of the poor creature. 
"We have been the unwilling spectator of several cases of 
beating over the head, until the water ran frorii the horse's 
eyes; and then, within a few months subsequently, have seen 
the eyes of the same horse become milky, the case terminat- 
ing presently in confirmed moon-blindness, as it is incor- 
rectly called. The instances of stupid, doltish horses re- 
duced to this condition by such brutal violence are not a 
few. The greatest misfortune, oftentimes, is, that the owner 
is kept in ignorance of what has transpired. He soon dis- 
covers the sad effects of the brutality, but never learns the 
true cause. 

FRACTURE OF THE NASAL BONES. 

It IS strange how unobservant some men are in regard to 
their horses. We have seen the bones of tlie nose fractured 
so badly as quite to disfigure the animal, and all the while 
the owner seemed wholly ignorant that any thing was 
wrong. These cases generally get well of themselves, un- 
less the bones are bent inward considerably, in which case 
it will require the instruments of the surgeon to replace 
them. If they protrude outward, however, tiiey may be re- 
stored to their proper position by the pressure of the hand. 
An application of hot salt water will remove much of the 
fever and soreness. 

FRACTURE OF THE RIBS. 

The ribs are sometimes broken by severe falls upon the 
side, or against some hard, upright object, as a post or rock. 
These cases are rare, however, and are never discovered, 
perhaps, unless accompanied by vertebral fracture. A few 
cases are recorded by English veterinarians. Nothing can 
be done for them, except to give the horse rest, when, if not 
injured internally, he may get well. If the locality of the 
fracture can be discovered, the parts should be well bathed 
with hot salt water, having a strong infusion of golden seal. 



FRACTURES. 527 



SIMPLE FRACTURE OF THE LIMBS. 

The legs are occasionally broken, either in consequence 
of a blow or a fall, or from the horse getting them hung in 
some fast place. It matters not so much to know what 
caused the fracture, as it does to understand what to do for 
it, and how to do it. A broken leg is a serious affair, and 
needs immediate attention ; while an accurate knowledge of 
the course proper to be pursued is indispensable. The lack 
of such knowledge, on the part of the farmers of our coun- 
try, nearly always consigns the horse to death at once, with- 
out a single effort having been made to save him. This sad 
state of affairs proceeds mainly from the un frequency of these 
accidents. Tbe very large majority of Americans have never 
seen a horse with a broken limb, although accustomed to 
horses all their lives; and should this casualty befall one of 
their own stock, at least four-fifths of them would give up 
the case in utter discouragement, and suffer the animal to 
be killed forthwith. It is a great mistake to suppose that 
nothing can be done for such a horse. If the proper meas- 
ures are adopted promptly, he may, generally, be saved. 
They involve considerable labor, it is true, and draw some- 
what on the farmer's time and patience ; yet this is a much 
greater bugbear with most than there is au}^ reason for; and 
even were the trouble as much as is imagined, we know of 
no more profitable way of spending the same amount of 
time. 

In simple fracture of the leg there is but one bone broken, 
and there is no dispUicement. The horse is, commonly, able 
to walk about, but is terribly lame, of course. The treat- 
ment of such a case is not difficult. The leg should be 
bandaged with strong strips of starched cloth. Pads of 
cotton should be laid upon the leg, at the point of fracture, 
and the bandages wound over them. In most instances of 
simple fracture, the horse does not, at first, get down at all, 
but remains standing upon his three feet for several days. 
Ultimately he becomes so wearied, however, that he will lie 



528 AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

down, if he can. This is never to be permitted, but the 
owner should, as soon as possible after the accident is dis- 
covered, make arrangements to furnish him support, or he 
may lie down upon the fractured limb and break it worse 
than before. The salt and water, made strong with the 
golden seal, and as hot as he can bear it, should be applied 
to the entire limb, from the body to the foot, wetting the 
bandages thoroughly. This should be done four or five times 
a day, during the first four or five days, and then gradually 
slackened, until it is not used at all. The bandages must be 
taken off and re-applied, every other day ; and if the wound 
appears to swell, and the horse shows signs of pain, (which 
will be indicated b}' his restlessness,) the bandages should 
remain only a few hours, and then be loosened ; and when 
the bandage is oft", let the hot bathing be well applied. 

In the case of compound fractures, the horse will gener- 
ally get down on his side, and must be raised to his feet. 
It will take some time to make the necessary preparations 
for this, and they will be attended with some little trouble 
and expense. 

As this is the first and most important step, a clear de- 
scription of the diflerent arrangements for raising the horse 
will be necessary. The first and best is the Sling. This may 
be used in either simple or compound fracture. If the horse 
is still on his feet, and near the stable, he may be led into 
it, and a couple of very stong hooks put into the beam 
above, or into the sides of his stall, if strong enough, and 
the sling suspended to those on either side. 

The cut on next page conveys a good idea of a sling com- 
plete in all its parts ; but one of simpler construction will 
answer the purpose when one so elaborate can not be had. 
It may be made of either bagging or sail cloth. Four yards 
of the cloth will be sufficient. Sew the ends of the cloth 
together very strongly. This, when doubled, will be about 
six feet in length. Two round sticks of very hard, strong 
wood to put through the cloth ; to these attach strong ropes, 
fastened to each end of the sticks, so that they will each 



FRACTURES. 



529 



have a rope extending from one end to the other. Eacli 
rope should be about six feet in the loop between the ends 
of the stick, and so tied that it can not slide either way. 
Let the sling thus arranged be put under the horse, and then 
another rope be carried through the one attached to the ends 
of the stick, and through a ring on the hook at the sides 
of the stable ; .let the rope be carried around twice, and first 
drawn up and fastened on one side, and then on the other. 



^l^k)\v0'''> ' ""f ' 




HORSE WITH FEACTURED LEG. 



until it raises the horse's body about two inches, and yet so 
that he can stand on his feet. He will very soon learn to rest 
his body on the sling when his fore-leg becomes very tired. 
He must be hitched to the front by a good, strong baiter, 
so that he can not pull back, and throw himself out of the 
sling:. He can not have room to do so forward for the 
manger. If it is his fore-leg that is fractured, he will try 
to throw himself backward; but if the hind one, he will 
34 



530 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

incline forward. In either case he must be prevented. It 
may be that such an accident may occur at some distance 
from the stable, in which case resort must be had to the 

FRAME. 

A kind of gallows may be constructed very readily by 
locking rails or poles together, after the manner of fixing a 
quick gallows upon which to hang slaughtered hogs, with 
which every farmer is well acquainted. It will take eight 
poles and four chains. These must be so arranged as to 
stand on both sides of the horse, and in each of these couples 
large heavy poles should be laid, which should be about 
fourteen feet long, and elevated about eight feet above the 
ground. When this frame is ready, which can be erected in 
some two or three hours, the assistance of five or six men 
will be required to raise the horse. 

Now let the sling be brought, prepared as already de- 
scribed, and be placed under the horse's body, and the ropes 
carried over the poles, which should be about six feet apart, 
and so braced with other poles, lashed across the ends, that 
they can not be drawn together. Let one man stand at his 
head and another at his tail, and at least two on each side, 
to lift, and one at the end of each rope to hold dll that is 
gained. It will require heavy lifting to raise him, and strong 
efforts on the part of the men at his head and tail to keep 
him from pitching. When he is raised part way up, and can 
begin to use his feet, he will try to raise himself, and a strong 
pull at the rope will quite easily bring him to a standing 
position. He will, in all probability, be a little restive for a 
time, and try to get away from his fastenings, but must be 
held and made fast by a strong halter in front, and a bar 
firmly fixed behind. A roof must be made to protect him 
from the weather, and a stand fixed in front, with a box on 
it for him to feed in. Ditches should be dug around to 
carry the water away from his place of standing, and keep it 
dry. 

Another arrangement can be made when the frame and 



FEACTURES. 531 

sling can not easily be procured and made. It is what we 
shall call the 

PEN. (See Colt Founder.) 

When all these arrangements are completed, we are now 
ready for the operation of 

SETTING THE BONES. 

When the fracture is a compound one, and the bones are 
displaced, the setting should take place before he is raised to 
bis feet. The leg should be wet for some time previous in 
hot, soapy water. Cloths applied in the hot water may be 
wrapped around the wound, and the water then turned on 
for twenty minutes. A rope must be fastened to his foot and 
carried around a post or some fast body, and the leg gradu- 
ally pulled until the bones come in place again. This can be 
told by a gentle pressure of the hand. The wet cloths should 
now be removed, and if the bones are all right, the leg may 
be rubbed with the hand until it is dry. This may be done 
by one person while the others are preparing the bandages. 
These should be strips of strong cloth three inches wide, and 
dipped in a warm adhesive mixture, made by melting equal 
parts of burgundy pitch, beeswax, and tallow. Begin to 
wind the strips some distance below the fracture, letting the 
end turn up the leg four or five inches, and then wind over 
this with the bandage to hold the end fast. Place some cot- 
ton padding over the fracture, and wind the bandage tightly 
over this. Let the strips lap about an inch in each winding, 
and extend as far above the fracture as below. If the frac- 
ture is a very bad one, splints of green wood, bent to suit the 
shape of the leg, and so as not to press heavily upon the 
wound, may be bound on with some more of the adhesive 
bandages. Two pieces of soft wood, of consideiable thick- 
ness, may be hollowed out so as not to press upon the wound, 
and the ends shaved down thin to fit the leg, and then wound 
with the adhesive strips. All this should be done as soon as 
possible, and the leg relieved from the ropes. 



532 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

TREATMENT OP THE WOUND. 

The leg should be bathed with the hot golden seal and 
salt and water mixture, every few hours, during the first two 
or three days, and occasionally afterward. 

If the fracture is above the knee or hock-joint, or if both 
bones are broken below either of these joints, we should ad- 
vise, if the situation of the horse can be made at all pleasant, 
to let him remain on his side for two weeks. The frame may 
be erected to raise him ; and, by all means, a shelter should be 
made over him to keep off the sun and rain. But it may be 
dangerous to raise the horse with a badly broken leg ; and 
then it can not be set as well while standing as when he is 
on his side. If, in his lying position, the broken leg is the 
upper one, not much need be done to fix a support. Some 
bundles of straw may be laid so that the foot can rest upon 
them. If it is the under leg, the ground should be hol- 
lowed out under the fracture, and some straw placed under 
the wounded part for it to rest upon. Examinations should 
be made to ascertain if the leg is swelling so as not to make 
the bandages too tight. If too tight, they must be loosened. 
This should be done only in extreme cases, and will readily 
be discovered by the indications of suffering that the patient 
exhibits. If proper attention has been paid to bathing his 
leg, this will not be necessary. If the accident should hap- 
pen in the winter, by all means get the horse into the barn 
or stable. His fractured leg may be temporarily bandaged 
and splinted, and then the animal gently moved on to a low 
sled, and thus drawn into the barn or stable, where he will 
be warm and comfortable. If he is still on his feet, he may 
be led into his stall, and all the operations of setting and after 
attentions be better paid him here than anywhere else. 

If the bones are not displaced, and the leg is not bent, the 

simple adhesive bandage is all that will be needed. In cases 

of this kind, the bandages may be taken off' on the third day, 

and re-dipped in the adhesive mixture and bound on again. 

Attention should also be given to his feed. He will want 



FRACTURES. 533 

something to eat, of course, and if he is lying down he will 
require some assistance to hold his head up. His usual feed 
may be given him — chopped feed, hay, or oats, but not any 
corn. A bran-mash occasionally would be excellent. 

THE TIME TO HEAL. 

This will vary in different cases, and be influenced much 
by the previous condition of the horse. If he is in low con- 
dition and feverish, he will most probably die. The fever in 
the system will settle in the wound and produce death. If in 
good health at the time of the accident, the time of his re- 
covery will be in proportion to the badness of the fracture. 
If the bone of either leg be broken above the knee or hock- 
joint it will take a month longer for it to heal than if below ; 
and a compound fracture, where the bone is broken entirely 
off and displaced, will require three times the length of time 
to heal as simple fracture. It will take from one to three 
months for either case to heal, and sometimes longer before 
the horse is able to go to work. He will use his limb just 
as soon as he is able to do so, and he is the best judge of 
his ability to use it. 



534 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 




CHAPTER XXII. 

SHOEING. 

The horse was subject to a sad necessity when shoes were 
first put on his feet, which was probably not done previous 
to the twelfth or thirteenth century. 
Before this he had no protection for 
his feet, as he needed none, except that 
which the all-wise Creator had given — 
the hard, horny hoof. This, in a nat- 
ural age of the world, answered every 
purpose; but now, in this artificial age 
of unyielding, fiinty roads, an artificial protection seems in- 
dispensable. 

Perhaps no greater curse has ever been inflicted upon the 
horse than this of shoeing. His feet are injured — often 
ruined — by it. Moreover, it frequently causes diseases which 
ruin not only the foot, but other and more vital parts. But 
although the evils of shoeing are many, and the sufierings 
of the horse often great in consequence, the world's advan- 
tage obviously requires this submission of the brute to the 
use of man. Horses, if used at all on our present roads, 
must be shod. All that we hope to do, in writing on this 
subject, is to prevent, as far as possible, the unnecessary in- 
fliction of these evils upon the horse, by pointing out wherein 
they exist, and recommending a better practice than is usual 
in the art of shoeinff. 

The subject, horse-shoeing, has been discussed for ages, 
and hundreds have been the inventions for the improvement 
of the shoe ; yet but little progress has been made, and the 
subject is scarcely better understood than it was a century 
ago. But, indeed, the prevalent evils in the practice of 



SHOEING. 535 

shoeing arise not so much from want of knowledge, as from 
carelessness and indifference on the part of workmen. In a 
work like this, a few practical suggestions as to the best 
mode of preparing the foot and putting on the shoe may 
not be out of place. "We shall introduce the subject by a 
quotation from Youatt, as we could give nothing better, and 
our views would necessarily run somewhat in the same chan- 
nel, but shall afterward give such practical directions as are 
adapted to our own country and the conditions and require- 
ments of the horse with us. 

" The period when the shoe began to be nailed to the foot 
of the horse is uncertain. William the Conqueror introduced 
the custom into our country. 

"We have seen, in the progress of our inquiry, that while 
it afibrds the foot of the horse that defense, which seems 
now to be necessary, against the destructive effects of our 
artificial and flinty roads, it has entailed upon the animal 
some evils. It has limited or destroyed the beautiful ex- 
pansibility of the lower part of the foot; it has led to con- 
traction, although that contraction has not always been ac- 
companied by lameness. In the most careful fixing of the 
best shoe, and in the careless manufacture and setting on of 
the bad one, irreparable injury has occasionally been done to 
the horse. 

" AVe will first attend to the preparation of the foot for the 
shoe, for more than is generally inuigined of its comfort to 
the horse and its safety to the rider depends on this. If the 
master would generally accompany the horse to the forge, 
more expense to himself and punishment to the horse would 
be spared than, perhaps, he would think possible — provided 
he will take the pains to understand the matter himself; 
otherwise, he had better not interfere. 

" The old shoe must first be taken ofi". We have some- 
thino: to observe even here. The shoe was retained on the 
foot by the ends of the nails being twisted off, turned down, 
and clenched. These clenches should be first raised — which 
the smith seldom takes the trouble thoroughly to do ; but, 



536 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

after looking carelessly round the crust, and loosening one 
or two of the clenches, he takes hold first of one heel of the 
shoe and then of the other, and by a violent wrench, sep- 
arates them from the foot; then, by means of a third wrench, 
applied to the middle of the shoe, he tears it off. By these 
means he must enlarge every nail-hole, and weaken the 
future steady hold of the shoe, and sometimes tear oft 
pieces of the crust and otherwise injure the foot. The horse 
generally shows by his flinching that he sufters from the 
violence with which this preliminary operation too often is 
performed. The clenches should always be raised or filed 
oft'; and where the foot is tender, or the horse is to be ex- 
amined for lameness, each nail should partly be punched out. 
J^ccording to the common system of procedure, many a stub 
is left in the crust — the source of future annoyance. 

" The shoe having been removed, the smith proceeds to rasp 
the edges of the crust. Let not the bystander object to the 
apparent violence which he uses, or fear that the foot will 
suffer. It is the only means that he has to detect whether 
any stubs remain in the nail-holes, and it is the most con- 
venient method of removing that portion of the crust into 
which dust and gravel have insinuated themselves. 

"Next comes the important process of paring out, with 
regard to which it is almost impossible to lay down any 
specific rules. This, however, is undoubted, that far more 
injury has been done by the neglect of paring than by car- 
rying it to too great an extent. The art of paring is a work 
of much more labor than the proprietor of a horse often 
imaginrs. The smith, except he is overlooked, will fre- 
quciitly give himself as little trouble about it as he can ; and 
that portion of the horn which, in the unshod foot, would 
be worn away by contact with the ground, is suffered to ac- 
cumulate month after month, until the elasticity of the sole 
is destroyed, and it can no longer descend; and its other 
functions are impeded, and foundation is laid for corn and 
contraction, and navicular disease and inflammation. That 
portion of the horn should be left on the foot, which will 



SHOEING. 537 

defend the internal parts from being bruised, and yet sufter 
the external sole to descend. How is this to be ascertiiiued? 
The strong pressure of the thumb of the smith will be the 
best guide. The butteris, that most destructive of all instru- 
ments, being, except on very particular occasions, banished 
from every respectable forge, the smith sets to work with 
his drawing-knife, and removes the growth of horn, until 
the sole will yield, although in the slightest possible degree, 
to the strong pressure of the thumbs. The proper thickness 
of horn will then remain. 

" If the foot has been previously neglected, and the horn is 
become very hard, the owner must not object if the smith 
resorts to other means to soften it a little, and takes one of 
his Hat irons, and, having heated it, draws it over the sole, 
and keeps it a little while in contact with the foot. When 
the sole is really thick, this rude and apparently barbarous 
method can do no harm; but it should never be permitted 
with the sole that is regularly pared out. The quantity of 
horn to be removed, in order to leave the proper degree of 
thickness, will vary with difterent feet. From the strong foot 
a great deal must be taken ; from the concave foot the horn 
may be removed, until the sole will yield to a moderate 
pressure ; from the flat foot little needs to be pared ; while 
the pummiced foot should be deprived of nothing but the 
ragged parts. 

" The paring being nearly completed, the knife and the rasp 
of the smith must be a little watched, or he will reduce the 
crust to a level with the sole, and thus endanger the bruis- 
ing of it by its pressure on the edge of the seating. The 
crust should be reduced to a perfect level all around, but 
left a little higher than the sole. 

"The heels will require considerable attention. From the 
stress which is thrown on the inner heel, and from the 
weakness of the quarter there, the horn usually wears away 
considerably faster than it would on the outer one ; and if 
an equal portion of horn were pared from it, it would be 
left lower than the outer heel. The smith should, therefore, 



538 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

accommodate his paring to the comparative wear o. the 
heels, and he exceedingly careful to leave them precisely 
level. 

" If the reader will recollect what has been said of the in- 
tention and action of the bars, he will readily perceive that 
the smith should be checked in his almost universal fond- 
ness for opening the heels, or, more truly, removing that 
which is the main impediment to contraction. The portion 
of the heels between the inflexion of the bar and the frog 
should scarcely be touched — at least the ragged and detached 
parts alone should be cut away. The foot may not look so 
fair and open, but it will last longer without contraction. 

"The bar, likewise, should be left fully prominent, not only 
at its first inflexion, but as it runs down the side of the frog. 
The heel of the shoe is designed to rest partly on the heel of 
the foot and partly on the bar, for reasons that have already 
been stated. If the bar is weak, the growth of it should be 
encouraged; and it should be scarcely touched when the 
horse is shod, unless it has attained a level with the crust. 
The reader will recollect the observation which has already 
been made, that the destruction of the bars not only leads 
to contraction by removing the grand impediment to it, but 
by adding a still more powerful cause in the slanting di- 
rection which is given to the bearing of the heels when the 
bar does not contribute to the support of the weight. 

" It will also be apparent that the horn between the crust 
and the bar should be carefully pared out. Every horseman 
has observed the relief which is given to the animal lame 
with corns when this angle is well thinned. This relief, 
however, is often but temporary, for when the horn grows 
again, and the shoe presses upon it, the torture of the horse 
is renewed. 

"The degree of paring to which' the frog must be subjected 
will depend on its prominence and on the shape of the foot. 
The principle has already been stated that it must be left so 
far projecting and prominent that it shall be just within aud 
above the lower surface of the shoe; it will then descend 



SHOEING. 539 

with the sole sufficiently to discharge the functions that 
have been attributed to it. If it is lower, it will be bruised 
and injured ; if it is higher, it can not come in contact with 
the ground, and thus be enabled to do its duty. The rag- 
ged parts myst be removed, and especially those occasioned 
by thrush, but the degree of paring must depend entirely on 
the principle just stated. 

" It appears, then, that the office of the smith requires some 
skill and judgment, in order to be properly discharged; and 
the proprietor of horses will find it to his interest to occa- 
sionally visit the forge, and complain of the careless, or idle, 
or obstinate lellow, while he rewards, by some trifling gra- 
tuity, the expert and diligent workman. He should like- 
wise remember that a great deal more depends on the par- 
ing out of the foot than on the construction of the shoe ; 
that few shoes, except they press upon the sole or are made 
outrageously bad, will lame the horse; but that he may be 
very easily lamed from ignorant and improper paring out 
of the foot. 

THE PUTTING ON THE SHOE. 

" The foot being thus prepared, the smith looks about for a 
shoe. He should select one that as nearly fits the foot as 
possible, or may be easily altered to the foot. He will some- 
times, and especially if he is an idle, reckless fellow, care 
very little about this, for he can easily alter the foot to the 
shoe. The toe-knife is a very convenient instrument for 
him, and plenty of horn can be struck off with it, or removed 
by the rasp, in order to make the foot as small as the shoe ; 
while he cares little, although by this destructive method the 
crust is materially thinned where it should receive the nail, 
and the danger of puncture and of pressure upon the sole is 
increased; and a foot so artificially diminished in size will 
soon grow over the shoe, to the hazard of considerable or 
permanent lameness. 

" While the horse is traveling, dirt and gravel are apt to 
insinuate themselves between the web of the foot and the 
sole. If the shoe were flat, they would be permanently re- 



540 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

tained there, and would bruise the sole and be productive 
of injury; but when the shoe is properly beveled off, it is 
scarcely possible for them to remain. They must be shaken 
out almost every time that the foot comes in contact with 
the ground. 

" The web of the shoe is likewise of that thickness that 
when the foot is properly pared, the prominent part of the 
frog shall lie just within and above its ground surface, so that 
in the descent of the sole the frog shall come sufficiently on 
the ground to enable it to act as a wedge, and so expand the 
quarters, while it is defended from the wear and injury it 
would receive if it come on the ground with the first and 
full shock of the weight. 

" The nail-holes are, on the ground side, placed so near the 
outer edge of the shoe as they can safely be, and brought 
out near the inner edge of the seating. The nails thus take 
the direction inward, resembling that of the crust itself, and 
have firmer hold, while the strain upon them in the common 
shoe is altogether prevented ; and the weight of the horse 
being thrown on a flat surface, contraction is not so likely 
to be produced. 

" The smith sometimes objects to the use of this shoe on 
account of its not being so easily formed as one composed 
of a bar of iron, either flat or a little beveled. It likewise 
occupies more time in forging ; but these objections would 
vanish when the owner of the horse declared that he would 
have him shod elsewhere, or when he consented — as in justice 
he should — to pay somewhat more for a shoe that required 
better workmanship and a longer time in construction. 

" It is expedient not onl}'- that the foot and ground surface 
of the shoe should be most accurately level, but that the crust 
should be exactly smoothed and fitted to the shoe. Much 
skill and time are necessary to do this perfectly with the 
drawing-knife. The smith has adopted a method of more 
quickly and more accurately, adapting the shoe to the foot. 
He pares the crust as level as he can, and then he brings the 
shoe to a heat, somewhat below a red heat, and applies it to 



SHOEING. 541 

the foot, and detects any little elevations by the deep color 
of the burned horn. This practice has been much .inveighed 
against, but it is the abuse and not the use of the thing 
which is to be condemned. If the shoe is not too hot, nor 
held too long on the foot, an accuracy of adjustment is thus 
obtained which the knife would be long in producing, or 
would not produce at all. If, however, the shoe is made to 
burn its way to its seat, with little or no previous prepara- 
tion of the foot, the heat must be injurious both to the sen- 
sible and insensible parts of the foot. 

"The heels of the shoe should be examined as to their 
proper width. Whatever is the custom of shoeing the horses 
of dealers, and the too prevalent practice in the metropolis 
of giving the foot an open appearance, although the poste- 
rior part of it is thereby exposed to injury, nothing is more 
certain than that, in the horse 'destined for road- work, the 
heels, and particularly the seat of corns, can scarcely be too 
well covered. Part of the shoe projecting externally can be 
of no possible good, but will prove an occasional source of 
mischief, and especially in a heavy country. A shoe the web 
of which projects inward so far as it can without touching the 
frog, aflbrds protection to the angle between the bars and crust. 

" Of the manner of attaching the shoe to the foot the owner 
can scarcely be a competent judge ; he can only take care that 
the shoe itself shall not be heavier than the work requires; 
that for work a httle hard the shoe shall still be light, with 
a bit of steel welded into the toe ; that the nails shall be as 
small and as few and as far from the heels as may be con- 
sistent with the security of the shoe ; and that for light work, 
at least, the shoe shall not be driven on so closely and firmly 
as is often done, nor the points of the nails be brought out 
so high up as is generally practiced. 

CALKINS. 

" There are few cases in which the use of calkins (a turning 
up or elevation of the heel) can be admissible in the fore-feet, 
except in frosty weather, when it may, in some degree, pre- 



542 AMERICAN FAKMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

vent unpleasant or dangerous slipping. If, however, calkina 
are used, thej should be placed on both sides. If the outei 
heel only is raised with the calkin, as is too often the case, 
the weight can not be thrown evenly on the foot, and undue 
straining and injury of some part of the foot or leg must be 
the necessary consequence. Few things deserve more the 
attention of the horseman than this most absurd and inju- 
rious of all the practices of the forge. One quarter of an 
hour's walking, with one side of the shoe or boot raised con- 
siderably above the other, will painfully convince us of what 
the horse must sufi'er from this too common method of shoe- 
ing. It can not be excused even in the hunting shoe. If 
the horse is ridden far to cover, or galloped over hard and 
flinty ground, he will inevitably suft'er from this unequal dis- 
tribution of the weight. If the calkin is put on the outer 
heel, in order to prevent the horse from slipping, either the 
horn of that heel should be lowered to a corresponding de- 
gree, or the other heel of the shoe should be raised to the 
same level by a gradual thickening. Of the use of the calk- 
ins in "the hinder foot we shall presently speak. 

CLIPS. 

" These are portions of the upper edge of the shoe ham- 
mered out and turned up so as to embrace the lower part 
of the crust, and which is usually pared out a little in order 
to receive the clip. They are very useful, as more securely 
attaching the shoe to the foot, and relieving the crust from 
that stress upon the nails which would otherwise be injuri- 
ous. A clip at the toe is almost necessary in every draught 
horse, and absolutely so in the horse of heavy draught, in 
order to prevent the shoe from being loosened or torn off by 
the pressure which is thrown upon the toe in the act of 
standing. A clip on the outside of each shoe, at the begin- 
ning of the quarters, will give security to it. Clips are like- 
wise necessary on the shoes of all heavy horses, and of all 
others who are disposed to stamp or violently paw with their 
feet, and thus incur the danger of displacing the shoe ; but 



SHOEING. 543 

they are evils, inasmucli as they press upon the crust as it 
grows down, and they should only be used when circum- 
stances absolutely require them. In the hunter's shoe they 
are not required at the sides. One at the toe is sufficient. 

THE HINDER SHOE. 

" In forming the hinder shoes, it should be remembered that 
the hind limbs are the principal instruments in progression, 
and that in every act of progression, except the walk, the 
toe is the point on which the whole frame of the animal 
turns, and from which it is propelled. This part, then, 
should be strengthened as much as possible, and, therefore, 
the hinder shoes are made broader at the toe than the fore 
ones. Another good effect is produced by this, that the 
hinder foot being shortened, there is less danger of over- 
reaching or forging, and especially if the shoe is wider on the 
foot surface than on the ground one. The shoe is thus made 
to slope inward, and is a little within the toe of the crust. 

The shape of the hinder foot is somewhat different from 
that of the fore-foot. It is straighter in the quarter, and the 
shoe must have the same form. For carriage and draught 
horses, generally, calkins may be put on the heels, because 
the animal will thus be enabled to dig his toe more firmly 
into the ground and urge himself forward, and throw his 
weight into the collar with greater advantage ; but the calk- 
ins must not be too high, and they must be of. an equal 
height on each heel; otherwise, as has been stated with re- 
gard to the fore-feet, the weight will not be fairly distrib- 
uted over the foot, and some part of the foot will materially 
suffer. The nails in the hinder shoe may be placed nearer 
to the heel than in the fore shoe, because, from the compar- 
atively little weight and concussion thrown on the hinder 
feet, there is not so much danger of contraction. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHOES. 

The following cut represents the proper form of shoe for 
the off fore-foot, showing both the upper and under surfaces : 



544 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

A 




CONCAVE SEATED ENGLISH SHOE FOU OFF POJKE-EOOT. SHOWING BOTH SURFACES 



SHOEING. 545 

In Fig. 1, A is the clip at the toe; 5^, the outer quarter; 5^ tjig inner quarter; 
C, the outer heel; C^, the inner heel. The dark shade represents the con- 
cave surface to lighten the shoe and keep off pressure from the sole; and 
the lighter shading the flat surface for the crust of the hoof to bear upon. 

Tn Fig. 2, A is the toe turned up out of the line of wear; ^\ the outer, and B-, 
the inner quarter; C", the outer, and C^, the inner heel; the light shade 
representing the ground surface of the web, as wide at the heels as it is 
at the toe; the dark line representing the fuller carried back no further 
than is required by the nails, so that the shoe may not be weakened un- 
necessarily. 

This should never be made wider at the heels than the 
foot it is intended for, but should curve inward exactl}' to 
correspond on the internal surface with the crust of the hoof. 
The inner half should be forged of concave shape, making 
the inner edge much thinner than the outer, so as to keep 
all pressure off the sole of the foot, and prevent pieces of 
gravel, which get under the shoe, from doing injury to the 
foot. The web of the shoe for an ordinary sized horse 
should be about an inch Avide, but varying to the conforma- 
tion of the foot and use of the horse — always narrower, 
however, at the heel than at the quarter. The shoe should 
be attached by a few nails and near the toe. Three holes 
on the inside toe and four on the outside quarter, as shown 
in the cut, are usually sufficient to secure the shoe; and for 
I light horses, one or two can be dispensed with if the shoe is 
.not too long at the heel and allowed to overlap it. The toe 
of the shoe should be turned up in a clip, but not enough 
jto interfere with the nail -holes there. Of course calks 
'fihould be added when the roads are slippery, and they 
Ishould be of uniform height at heel and toe. The one at the 
jtoe should be made of steel and welded into the shoe. 
! The following cut represents the bar shoe, of which 
"Walsh says in his highly scientific work : " It is never used 
in this country (England) for sound feet, but it is a great 
pity that some modification of it can not be introduced, so 
as to obviate all the objections which apply to the ordinary 
iskoe. It consists of a complete ring of iron, similar in shape 
|to the ordinary shoe, so far as the back of the quarters, but 
35 



646 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



from that part bending inward to meet the web of the op- 
posite side with which it is welded. 




BAR SHOK FOR OFF FORE-FOOT-FITTED, BUT NOT NAILED ON. 



'• It is now used for the purposes exactly the reverse of 
each other. In the one case, the foot is so prepared that the 
frog shall touch the shoe, while the heels are quite free, and 
are, thereby, relieved from all pressure. In the other, the frog 
does not come in contact with the shoe, whicli is solely sup- 
ported by the crust and the bars. It may thus be made to 
defend either the frog or the heels, whichever may be in 
fault, and it is one of the most invahiable aids to veterinary 
surgery. Should the frog be more prominent than the crust, 
the shoe may be made thin in proportion, at the part where 
it covers the former, and by this means it may be made ex- 
actly to lit the two when it is desired to divide the weight 
between them. There are many weak-heeled harness horses 
which would do their work much better if they were per- 



SHOEING. 547 

manently shod in this way, and but for the danger of puUino- 
these shoes off, and the little Add which they take of the 
ground, hacks might also sometimes be shod advantageously 
with the bar shoe. It is upsightly, certainly, and at pres- 
ent marks the existence cf some disorder, and for these 
reasons it is now seldom employed, except on compulsion." 

We will now conclude our extract from Youatt, and then 
proceed with our own comments. 

" The shoe must vary in substance and weight with the 
kind of foot and the nature of the work. A weak foot 
should never wear a heavy shoe, nor any foot a shoe that 
will last longer than a month. Here, perhaps, we may be 
permitted to caution the horse proprietor against having his 
cattle shod by contract, unless he binds down his farrier or 
veterinary surgeon to remove the shoes once at least in every 
month ; for if the contractor, by a heavy shoe, and a little 
steel, can cause five or six weeks to intervene between the 
shoeings he will do so, although the feet of the horse must 
necessarily suffer. TJie shoe should never be heavier than 
the work requires, for an ounce or two in the weight of the 
shoe will sadly tell at the end of a hard day's work. This 
is acknowleged in the hunting shoe, which is narrower and 
lighter than that of the hackney, although the foot of the 
hackney is smaller than that of the hunter. It is more de- 
cidedly acknowledged in the racer, who wears a shoe only 
sufficiently thick to prevent it from bending when it is used." 
The above directions are applicable to any country, and can 
not be well improved upon in the main, but we must differ 
in some respects with their author, as will hereafter appear. 
Smiths are generally more careful, and understand their 
business better in this country than is above represented. 
There has been a commendable spirit of improvement among 
our smiths of late years in the art of good shoeing. Soiiie 
of them make mistakes, but not oftener than is common in 
other departments of business. Some do not understand 
their business, but of these there are not many. 

To shoe a horse well is a very nice operation. There is 



n48 AlMEPxlCAN FARIi[ER'S HORSE BOOK. 

niuoli care to bo used in olv^orving tlio qualit}' of (liftorent feet 
or hoofs. Every horse that comes to the shop has a foot of 
peculiar texture and shape. The shoe shouUi be adapted to 
these varying qualities, and a\so to the size, weight, habit, 
etc., of the horse. The size of fae horse must be taken into 
special consideration — small, lighi animals by no means re- 
quiring the thick and heavy shoes sviited to the large draught 
horse. 

A hard, flinty hoof does not require so wide a shoe as a 
soft, pun\iced one. It is a fault prevalent airiong smiths of 
leaving too much space between the nails in the front part 
or toe of the shoo. Shoes stay on much better when the 
space hero is small, as this is the strongest part of the hoof. 
AVint^r shoes may have calks, but summer shoes should 
not. The summer shoe should have a large groove for the 
nails to imbed their heads in. and the heel of the shoe may 
be made somewhat thicker, so as to rest upon the ground 
when the foot is elevated by the nails. Horees that have 
tender or sore feet from the eftect of corns or hoof-rot, or 
both, or whose hoofs are worn down on turnpike roads, 
should have a strip of felt cut in the shape of the shoo and 
laid under it before nailing. This will greatly relieve the 
pressure of the shoe. 

PARING THE HOOFS. 

The usual fault in paring is in taking oft' too much at the 
heel and not enough at the toe, thus throwing the foot too 
far back and causing a dangerous strain upon the coffin 
joint; and from this bad practice ring-bone, foot-evil, and 
navicular disease often arise. As a rule, one-third more 
should be pared oft" from the toe than from the heel, as the 
pressure of the shoe wears the heel much faster than the toe. 
AVe must dift'er somewhat from the high authority of our 
English author in relation to paring the frog. It should be 
pared at least a third of an inch lower than the sides of the 
foot. The bars which hold it to the sides of the heel should 
not be cut. The shuttle-bone lies immediately upon the frog. 



SHOEING. 549 

and when the latter is allowed to grow down so as to rest 
upon the ground an injurious pressure is brought to bear 
upon this bone, and its connection with the other bones and 
the large flexor tendon of the joint. From this cause serious 
diseases have arisen, baffling the skill of the best veterinary 
physicians to detect and remedy. 

CHANGING THE SHOES. 

The great fault in all this matter of shoeing is one for 
which the farmer is chiefly to blame; namely, neglect to 
change the shoes. This neglect more seriously affects young 
horses than older ones, as the feet of the former grow faster, 
and are more soft and tender; but any horse's hoof soon 
grows too large for the shoe, and after a time extends so 
much that the nails of the shoe begin to draw the hoof to- 
gether, and from this cause arises a majority of cases of con- 
traction of the hoof, or narrow heel. Besides, the water so 
constantly between the shoe and the hoof causes the shoe to 
rust, and the action of the iron-rust, thus confined, is very 
destructive to the hoof, and produces a species of decay 
known as the hoof-rot and pumiced feet, already described 
in this chapter. 

THE TIME OP WEARING. 

The length of time that shoes may be worn without in- 
jury varies with difterent horses. Horses with soft or pum- 
iced feet should not wear them longer than forty or forty-five 
days ; those of six or seven years of age, when their feet are 
good, may wear them for sixty or seventy days; and old 
horses, if their feet have never been injured, may keep them 
on for three months — the extreme length of time in any 
case. Young horses with their first shoes should not wear 
them longer than forty days. 

The injuries incurred by wearing the shoes before the feet 
have become fully formed, or have attained their full size 
and hardness, are many. Colts should have on shoes but a 
little part of the year. Nor should the colt be shod at all 
until he is at least three years old, and even this is earlier 



550 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

than is advisable. Shoes may be put on the three years' colt 
at the beginning of winter, and remain until spring, when 
they are to be removed and left off until the following 
autumn. 

All horses, and especially all young horses, should spend 
as much of their time bare-footed as possible. The shoes 
should be taken from the farm-horse in the spring, his feet 
pared, and the edges of the hoof trimmed ; and if the bot- 
toms have begun to decay they should be wetted with tur- 
pentine, which must be thoroughly dried in by holding a 
hot iron under the bottom of the hoof as long as the horse 
will bear the heat. The corrosive liniment may be used in- 
stead of turpentine. This will preserve the hoof from the 
evil effects of shoeing, and destroy any tendency to disease. 
Feet that have long been shod will always be tender, and 
they are often injured when the shoes are removed, and after- 
ward much hurt by contact with the hard ground. More- 
over, when shoes are not properly trimmed, the hoofs break 
in such a manner as to let the bottom of the foot down 
upon the ground, and the horse is given pain by every step 
he takes, from the soreness of the soles of the hoof. 

The corrosive liniment, used as directed in the chapter on 
medicines, will readily heal and harden the hoof. Indeed, 
this invaluable liniment might well be applied to the hoof 
on many occasions, and thus certainly prevent such diseases 
as hoof-rot, corns, grease, and thrush. 



VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HOESE. 551 



CHAPTER XXIII. • 

VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HOESE. 

I, VICES. 

The horse, like man, his master, is a compound of defects 
and excellent qualities. Confessedly among the noblest, if 
not the noblest, of the lower animals, he yet has his full share 
of vices. Most of these are common to the species, though 
a few seem to belong exclusively to particular breeds. They 
are sometimes traceable to natural disposition, but more fre- 
quently to the result of improper training, of neglect or abuse. 
False education, in the horse as well as the human creature, 
is necessarily a cause of untold evil. The horse seems read- 
ily to fall into bad ways, and should be curbed, controlled, 
and directed properly from tlie very first. The value of a 
horse is, of course, diminished in proportion to the number 
of his " vices," and purchasers are often cheated through 
ignorance of the means of detecting them. Many persons 
are deceived by an opinion that prevails largely in the coun- 
try that a horse can easily be cured of a bad habit. This is 
a great mistake. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks, 
but still harder to break an old horse of bad tricks. It is, 
indeed, so difficult as to be very rarely accomplished. The 
colt age is the time for training; and if it is not done then 
it is almost worse than useless to try to do it afterward, 
Rarey to the contrary notwithstanding. 

We will now proceed to take up and consider in order 
some of the chief " Vices of the Horse." 

KICKING. 

Kicking is probably the worst habit that the horse is ever 
addicted to, for it is very dangerous. It may be induced in 



552 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

the colt by pincliing, teasing, and otherwise annoying, as 
boys and hostlers often do. The grown horse is not likely 
to kick, unless this habit has been acquired early. Still, 
there are colts that seem naturally vicious in this particular. 
They will kick, when very young, at every body and every 
thing that comes near them. But by far the larger num- 
ber, as above intimated, acquire the habit through the ig- 
norance or carelessness of attendants. From very small be- 
ginnings grow the very worst evils. A habit of kicking 
once acquired will increase, until it becomes quite unsafe 
to approach the animal addicted to it. All can remember 
the startling warning, so often heard, " Take care — that 
horse may kick you I " It is perilous to enter the stall of 
a kicking horse, or to attempt to clean him, or to hitch 
him, or even touch him with harness. Some horses will 
kick at other horses, but not at persons ; some at chains 
rattling about them, but not at other parts of the harness. 
Some will permit one person to ride them, but decidedly 
object to two, and will kick violently if two attempt to 
mount them. The most dangerous of all kicking is that 
done in harness. Says Youatt, "From the least annoyance 
about the rump or quarters, some horses will kick at a most 
violent rate, and destroy the bottom of the chaise and en- 
danger the limbs of the driver. Tliose that are fidgety in 
the stable are most apt to do this. If the reins should per- 
chance get under his tail, the violence of the kicker is most 
outrageous ; and while the animal presses down his tail so 
tightly that it is almost impossible to extricate the reins, he 
continues to plunge until he has demolished every thing be- 
hind him." 

It is not only imprudent to keep a horse addicted to such 
practices as above described, but it is criminal. It amounts 
to a species of insanity. 

The best remedy for kicking is to tie a small, hard rope 
to the hair of the tail; pass the rope along the belly and 
between the legs, and fasten it very tightly to the collar, or 
to another rope tied round the neck. When the animal thua 



VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HORSE. 553 

fettered attempts to kick, the motion of his hiud legs will 
bring snch a strain on the rope, and hurt his tail and the 
skin of his belly so much, that he will be deterred from an 
exercise that costs him so dearly. 

BITING. 

This vicious habit generally arises from a natural disposi- 
tion to ferocity, but is made worse by the meanness of boys 
and stable attendants. Few horses would ever become biters 
were it not for the anuo^-ances to which they have been sub- 
ject, and some horses can scarcely be induced to bite. Bit- 
ing horses are very vexing, and often dangerous. It is im- 
possible to enter their stall with safety, or to curry, saddle, 
harness, or even feed them without fear of mischief. The 
biter's worst fault is, that he gives no warning of his inten- 
tion. He appears as docile and quiet as usual, but as soon 
as the incautious person approaches within his reach, he 
seizes him with his teeth, often inflicting serious injury. 

A biting stallion is an exceedingly dangerous animal; he 
not only bites, but is apt to strike with his fore-feet. A 
gentleman in Middle Tennessee, who owned a very valuable 
stallion that was in the habit of biting, went to the stable, 
one evening, to feed him, but as he did not return, his fam- 
ily, going to look for him, found him dead under the horse's 
feet. 

There is no cure for this propensity, except to knock out 
one of the front teeth of the vicious animal every time he 
bites a person. This is a dreadful remedy, but it is better 
than to be continually in danger. It is an effectual remedy. 
Few horses will need to have more than two teeth removed — 
one above and one below. 

Professor Stewart, in his " Stable Economy," pronounces 
the worst form of biting to be a " species of insanity." 

The habit of biting can be remedied or prevented in the 
colt, and it is the interest and duty of every horse-owner to 
see that it is remedied or prevented. It is of no use to pun- 
ish the colt for this or any other bad habit. Kindness will 



554 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

do more good than punishment. See to it that all teasing 
and vexing of your colt be promptly and entirely broken up. 

BEARING. 

This habit is often induced by bad treatment, such as jerk- 
ing the mouth with the bridle, etc. Whatever may be the 
cause of it, it is a very troublesome and dangerous fault. 
By it riders are most frequently thrown, with what sad re- 
sults is well know^n. If a horse rears in the harness, he is 
almost sure to fall, and get himself entangled in the gear, 
breaking it, oftentimes, and injuring himself. .If beside 
another horse, this, if not hurt, is generally made scary by 
example. Some horses will not back w^ithout rearing. Per- 
sons purchasing horses should be sure to try them at backing. 

The remedy recommended for kicking will also apply to 
rearing. 

SCARING. 

Scaring is a common defect among horses. Some of them 
will take fright at almost any thing, and sometimes appar- 
ently at nothing. In many cases it is occasioned by a defect 
of vision. Some horses are near-sighted, and, in consequence, 
do not see objects until they are alarmingly near. But, like 
the other vices we have been considering, scaring is gener- 
ally a habit brought on by bad training. Inconsiderate boys 
and irresponsible hostlers often have a habit of frightening 
colts whenever they come near them. A habit of scaring 
contracted in colthood generally remains through life. There 
is no radical remedy for it. Gentle and kind treatment may 
effect much, and nothing else will. 

Since the miserable old blind-bridles have gone out of use, 
there are not so many scary horses as there used to be. 

A horse generally gives evidence of fright either by jump- 
ing forward or sidewise, or by shying. Jumping is the most 
dangerous, as it is usually the signal for running. Nor is the 
horse likely to delay long. He is off in an instant — either 
to one side, upsetting or endangering the vehicle he draws, 
/ 



VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HORSE. 555 

or straight ahead, with a force and rapidity that it strongly 
taxes a driver's strength to restrain. Shying is not so seri- 
ous, but it is very annoying. Many horses that start, shy, 
and jump will not run away, but this is not generally the 
case. 

RUNNING AWAY. 

There is no trust to be put in a horse that has once run 
away ; and a horse having run when harnessed to a vehicle 
ought never again to be driven to the same vehicle. Nor 
will it be safe, in most cases, to drive him singly, unless to 
the plow. He may be ridden or worked beside some old, 
steady horse in the wagon, but this is as far as it is safe to 
trust him. It is to be remembered that scaring is the nat- 
ural antecedent to running away. No horse will run away 
that will not scare. 

BALKING AND BACKING. 

The habit of balking and backing is one of the worst and 
most insufferable that a horse is ever addicted to, and one 
which renders " horse-liesh " next to worthless. It is a habit 
we are again compelled to attribute not so much to the nat- 
ural disposition of the horse as to faulty training and abuse 
in colt-breaking. It is often the result of overloading the 
young animal before he has been trained to hard pulling, 
and before he has become strong enough to bear the strain 
of drawing heavy loads. The overtaxed and weary beast, 
perhaps midway up a long hill, gives out from sheer ex- 
haustion ; and then the wagon runs back, pulling him with 
it, and in this way the practice of backing and balking is 
begun, and at first a necessity, becomes in time a confirmed 
habit. 

A horse that is not broken before the age of three years 
is more liable to run into this practice than one broken 
earlier. 

Of course there is no dependence to be put on a balky 
horse. When you most need his services, he is most likely 
to disappoint you. Numbers of accidents are continually 



556 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

occurriug from the imprudence of driving balky beasts, and 
yet many persons will persist in a practice fraught with im- 
minent danger to property and life. Indeed, there is hardly 
any matter in which men display more foolhardiness than in 
their dealings with horses. 

There is no cure for a balky horse. We have seen nearly 
all means tried, and have seen them fail, and have no con- 
fidence in any plan for breaking up the detestable habit. 
Many secret rules for the cure of it have been circulated in 
the country, the chief efiect of which has been to deceive 
credulous persons, and to extract a few dollars from their 
pockets. A class of secret-rule-selling impostors may tame 
and control a very lazy horse, so that he will stand still and 
let you handle him, if you will scratch his itching hide and 
breathe into his nostrils — an operation very grateful to him — 
but none of them has ever succeeded in making an obstinate, 
old, balky horse pull up a steep hill ; and, furthermore, they 
never will do it. 

The horse can be trained from a colt to be true and steady 
in harness, and kept from bad tricks, and broken of some 
vices, but not of habitual balking. 

CHEWING THE REINS. 

This pernicious habit is mostly confined to young colts 
and mules. The old horse is but seldom guilty of it, but 
mules often continue it all their lives. 

It may be prevented and the animal efiectually cured by 
soaking the hitch-rein of the halter in a strong decoction 
of Cayenne pepper. In the absence of Cayenne pepper to- 
bacco may be employed. 

PULLING AT THE HALTER AND BREAKING AWAY. 

Some horses will never stand hitched by the halter, but 
are always restive and pulling, and frequently break away. 
This is, in nearly all cases, a defect of early training — of 
mismanagement of the colt while quite young. Boys are 
apt to be continually scaring the colt, which, if tied with a 



VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HORSE. 557 

weak cord, will sometimes break away ; and when once he 
has learned that he can do this, he will ever afterward be 
trying his halter, and two or three times breaking will con- 
firm the habit. The only remedy is to provide a halter too 
strong to be broken. 

OVERREACHING AND INTERFERING. 

Overreaching and interfering are perhaps not so properly 
classed under the head of vices as under that of infirmities. 
The first results in consequence of the horse's having more 
power and nervous action in his hind than in his fore-legs. 
The toe of his hind foot strikes against the heel of the fore- 
foot, and, when the horse is shod, there is a peculiar, disa- 
greeable sound of the iron shoes hitting together. Besides 
the unpleasantness of this defect to a rider or driver, a horse 
afflicted by it is constantly injuring himself by cutting the 
heel of the fore-foot, often laming himself seriously. 

When the horse strikes the fore-foot on one side asrainst 
the ankle of the other, in the act of stepping, he is said to 
interfere. Such a horse will nearly always have the inside of 
one or both ankle-joints cut and bleeding, and be continally 
halting and limping from the effects of these bruises. Horses 
that are very narrow in the chest, and whose legs are not 
very closely together, are obviously more liable to this 
trouble than others. 

Much may be done to remedy interference by paring the 
hoof close and round on the inside, and keeping the shoe- 
nails from projecting outward; but nothing will entirely cure 
a bad case of interference. Plenty of good, wholesome food, 
to make the horse fat, will spread his legs somewhat further 
apart, and partially remedy the defect, which, in fact, is often 
an effect of leanness and hunger. ^ ' 

STUMBLING. 

Stumbling is also rather an infirmity than a vice. It re- 
sults from a natural fault in the shape of the hoof and foot, 
and also from a stiffness of the knee. The legs of stumbling 



558 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

horses are set too straight down iu the hoof, Hke a post iu 
the ground. A stumbler, however, is generally an old stiff- 
jointed, worn-out animal, iit for nothing but the wagon or 
the plow. There is no cure for a stumbler, and woe to the 
man who attempts to ride one. He had better have his neck 
insured before he mounts. 



II. UNSOUNDNESS. 

The horse can not tell his ailment, and sometimes fine- 
looking animals possess defects that the best of judges fail 
to discern. It is our present object to point out some of 
the more important marks of unsoundness, to guard the 
reader against imposition, for jocke3^s are very skillful in 
concealing the blemishes of their horses, and buyers are 
often deceived and cheated. 

DEFECTS OF THE EYE. 

It is difficult to detect a bad eye. It can be done best in 
the bright sunshine. The head of the horse should be held 
iu such a position as to let the sun's rays fall as directly as 
possible upon the ball of the eye. If it is not perfectly clear, 
the sun shining into it will reveal this. Another mode of 
judging of the condition of the eye is by examining the 
nose of the horse, and looking for the little opening in the 
back lining of the nostril, (described in the chapter on the 
eye and blind staggers,) which is the outlet of the lachrymal 
duct that drains the water from the eye. This little opening 
will be discovered to be of different sizes in different horses, 
varying from the size of a pin's head to an eighth or even 
a third of an inch in diameter. The size of this opening is 
directly indicative of the strength of the eye; and in all cases 
of disease of the eye, (except from blows or injuries,) and in 
all cases of blindness caused by disease, the little opening has 
been found to be very small; and in a majority of cases that 
we have examined — numbering nearly five hundred — these 
openings were not larger than a pin's head; and in ^our 



VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HORSE. 559 

cases of bad eyes examined by us during the past month, 
August, 1866, in Petersburg, Ky., the lachrymal openings 
were very small indeed. On the contrary, in almost every 
case of large, full, clear eyes, these openings are proportion- 
ably large. This is an almost unvarying rule, that the 
strength of the eye to resist disease, and its liability to go 
out, will be indicated by the size of these openings. 

DEFECTS OP THE FEET. 

There are more horses unsound from defects of the feet 
than from all other causes together. Many of these defects 
arise from bad shoeing, but more of them from bad stabling, 
which compels the horse to stand in wet and filth. Plank 
floors are very hurtful to horses' feet, especially in summer. 
The diseases most likely to attack the feet first are hoof-rot, 
corns, thrush, grease, scratches, and these are the exciting 
cause of many others. Hoof-rot is a condition of the foot 
that has excited but little attention, and yet it lies at the 
foundation of almost all the other foot difficulties. Iloof-rot, 
also called pumice feet, has already been described. It is in- 
dicated by a soft, rotten state of the bottom of the hoof, 
permitting its substance to be easily dug or cut out with a 
knife or a chisel. The soft matter will be thickest at the 
back part of the foot, and has a white, chalky, scaly appear- 
ance. AVhen the feet are in this condition, the horse will be 
what is called tender-footed, a condition indicated by his pe- 
culiar manner of stepping. The joints will swell, and many 
troublesome, if not incurable diseases ensue. ITever forget 
that hoof-rot is a serious disease, and, consequently, a positive 
and deplorable condition of unsoundness. 

DEFECTS OF THE SKIN. 

Many horses are afflicted by a scurviness of the skin which 
fills the hair with a brownish dust. Such horses can never 
be kept clean. You can hardly rub your hand over one of 
them without its becoming smeared with this gummy scurf. 
]f you curry out all you cau in the morning, it will be just 



560 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. • 

as bad affain at nio-bt. Tbis condition continues sometimes 
for montbs and years. Few persons ever tbink tbat tbis in- 
dicates any tbing specially wrong, but tbey are sadly mis- 
taken. It is caused by a disease of tbe skin, a continued 
fever wbicb is drying up tbe scarf or cuticle, and thickening 
tbe bide all over tb^ body. It may be located in tbe skin 
alone, yet often is caused by a general unbealtby state of 
tbe system. It is tbe beginning of otber serious diseases, 
and is especially injurious to tbe eye. It is unsoundness of 
tbe most dangerous cbaracter. 

DEFECTS OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS. 

Tbe respiratory organs are often diseased, and even when 
apparently sound tbe effects of previous disease may remain, 
tbougb in a latent form, and render a borse mucb less val- 
uable tban be would otberwise be. Purcbasers are in danger 
of being cbeated by baving a borse tbus unsound imposed 
upon tbem. Some of tbe cbronic complaints resulting from 
diseased respiratory organs are cougbs, broken wind, wbeez- 
ing, tbumps, etc. Tbese complaints can best be detected by 
driving or riding tbe animal for some distance at a rapid 
rate. If any tbing is tbe matter witb tbese organs, be will 
sbow it in bis breatbing. Dry, dusty feed will, in most 
cases, bring to ligbt a bidden cbronic cougb. Examine well 
your borse before you buy bim or trade for bim. 

DEFECTS OF STOMACH AND BOWELS. 

Indigestion and intestinal disturbances are common to tbe 
borse, but tbese, or at least tbeir more violent sj'mptoms, 
soon pass away, Not so tbeir effects; a diseased and weak- 
ened condition of tbe digestive organs often remains. Many 
horses are subject to frequent attacks of colic, tbe conse- 
quence of imperfect functions of weakened organs. Others 
are constantly troubled with looseness of tbe bowels. In some 
cases the food is voided but partially digested, portions of hay 
and grain passing whole. These may be but temporary affec- 
tions of tbe bowels, but in some cases remain constant. 



VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HORSE. 561 



THE URINARY ORGANS. 

The urinary organs are more subject to disease than any 
other parts of the horse. Inflammation of any of these 
organs can not last long. It must soon be cured or it will 
soon kill. Even when cured, it nearly alwaj^s leaves evil 
ett'ects in the form of stricture of some of the passages — of a 
constant tendency to fullness of the sheath, or of a disordered 
state of the urine, known under the names of thick or albu- 
minous urine, white or briny urine, bloody urine, profuse 
stalling, and suppressage or stoppage of the urine. In some 
cases these afl'ections are only temporary, and pass away with 
the disease that caused them, but in many others they be- 
come permanent. 

CONCLUSION. 

There are many other species of defect to which the horse 
is liable besides those we have mentioned. It has been our 
purpose only to mention such important defects as seriously 
impair the soundness of the horse, and are not generally un- 
derstood. The reader needs no warning against defects easily 
to be discovered, but against those of a more hidden and in- 
tricate nature he may find a word of caution beneficial. Cer- 
tain diseases have their marks so prominent that they can be 
detected at once ; such are ring-bone, spavin, splint, wind- 
galls, narrow heel, swelled legs, big head, etc. These all 
constitute unsoundness in a greater or less degree, but are 
Iso well known that no description of them is needed. 
I 36 



562 AMERKJAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

MEDICAL PREPARATIONS RECOMMENDED IN THIS WORK. 

But few persons are to be found in our country capable 
of treating properly the diseases of the horse ; but there is 
no lack of quacks, the presumption and ignorance of whom 
have thoroughly disgusted the people. Occasionally, how- 
ever, we are favored by the presence of a veterinary practi- 
tioner of knowledge, skill, and experience. The cities are, 
in this respect, better supplied than the country ; yet even 
in the city the old treatment and exploded theories of dis- 
eases generally prevail, and the medicines in common use 
are too often ineffectual. In practice it will frequently be 
found that medicines are applied to destroy the effects rather 
than to remove the causes of disease. A case in point : We 
have under treatment a horse in Petersburg, Kentucky, that 
had been doctored for the " swelled leg " by a professedly 
" scientific practitioner," Medicine had been applied to the 
leg to abate the swelling, while the foot was dreadfuly dis- 
eased with hoof-rot, corns, and incipient greasy heel. This 
condition of the foot had been the cause of the swelling of 
the leg, but nothing had been done for it, if it had even been 
discovered at all. 

The farmer must necessarily, as a rule, be his own horse- 
doctor, or go without any. It is, therefore, very important 
that he and all horse-owners should make themselves ac- 
quainted not only with the ordinary diseases, but with the 
medicines most likely to cure them. The practice now in 
vogue is to use preparations unfamiliar to the farmer, and 
not easily procured. This ought not to be so. The essen- 
tial remedies usually employed with most benefit are simple, 
..and obtained without diflS.culty ; nor are they dangerous to use. 



MEDICAL PREPAEATIONS. 563 

The medicines described in these pages are few and fa- 
miliar; yet they, singly or in combination, have been proven 
by experience to be efficacious. We shall briefly give their 
constitution, properties, mode of preparation, and use. Par- 
ticular attention should be paid to the directions given for 
their preparation ; and the manner of using here recom- 
mended should be strictly followed. 

CORROSIVE LINIMENT. 
I. 

Take half a pint of turpentine, which put in a good, strong 
bottle, adding an ounce of finely-pulverized corrosive sublimate 
and an ounce of gum camphor. Shake well, and let the mix- 
ture stand for twenty-four hours, when it will be fit for use. 

The value of this liniment depends greatly upon the fine- 
ness to which the corrosive sublimate is pulverized. Grind 
it as fine as possible in a druggist's mortar; pounding with 
a hammer will not answer. The object of this pulverization 
is to get the substance in such a form that it will be read- 
ily dissolved by the turpentine. There are comparatively 
few liquids which will dissolve corrosive sublimate, and we 
claim to have discovered that turpentine is one of these. 
Corrosive sublimate is well known as one of the most vio- 
lent poisons. Its combination with turpentine constitutes 
one of the most powerful of medicines, increasing in its 
active properties by keeping. We believe it to be the most 
penetrating liniment in the world. It reaches the seat of 
disease through any and all obstacles. It destroys all in- 
fection, putridity, ulceration, old running-sores, proud flesh, 
and all skin and bone diseases of the horse. It will cure 
big head and jaw, grease, thrush, scratches, swelled legs, hoof- 
rot, foot-evil, corns, ulceration of the foot, (navicular disease,) 
fistula, poll- evil, ring-bone, and spavin, in their first stages. 

In the human subject this liniment has been known to 
cure repeatedly those troublesome affections known as tetter 
and scald-head ; but it is to be used with great caution in 
these cases, and not at all unless at least ten days old. 



564 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Method of using. — Always shake the hottle well before tak- 
ing out the stopper. Pour the liquid into an earthen vessel, 
as it corrodes vessels of metal. Apply with a little mop of 
soft rag. In all bone affections the liniment is to be thor- 
oughly dried in by means of a hot iron, held close to the 
medicated spot, but not close enough to burn the animal. 
Particular directions are given, in connection with the de- 
scription of diseases, how to proceed in reference to quantity 
and manner of using the liniment. 

Cautions. — Keep the materials for making this preparation 
and the medicine itself out of the way of children. Taken 
internally it is a violent poison, but may be antidoted by the 
white of eggs. It will not hurt the hands provided the skin 
is whole and sound. It is so corrosive that persons unac- 
quainted with its use are sometimes alarmed at the severity 
with which it acts upon the skin of the horse. Nothing 
more strikingly shows the difference between the constitu- 
tion of the horse and that of the human being than the ac- 
tion of this medicine, which, while it dreadfully inflames, 
corrodes, and puffs out the skin of the former, harms that 
of the latter not at all. 

MAY-APPLE LINIMENT. 
II. 

Make a strong decoction from about a gallon of May-apple 
roots, continuing to boil until you obtain a thick syrup — tak- 
ing care not to burn it. While still boiling, add one-fourth as 
much old bacon or lard as you have syrup, remembering to 
stir all the time ; remove from the fire, and preserve for use. 

f/"5g. — ^e use this liniment in cases of ulcers and tumors 
where matter has formed. It is also employed in cases of 
fistula and poll-evil in their second stage ; that is, when sup- 
puration or festering has set in. In this stage of those dis- 
eases this remedy never fails to cure. It is slow in its action, 
but very certain if properly used. It inflames the skin, puflT- 
ing it out like a honey-comb, and draws the fever and mat- 
ter all to the surface. 



MEDICAL PREPARATIONS. 565 

To find the May-apple. — The May-apple (podophyllum pel- 
tatum) is common in the Middle and Western States of the 
Union. It grows in nearly all rich upland where the birch 
and the sugar-tree is found, and in most creek and river 
bottoms. It is about a foot in height, with a rounded stem, 
sometimes dividing at the top into two branches, between 
which is the flower. When not divided, the leaf at the top 
looks somewhat like a little umbrella. The roots are brittle, 
whitish-brown in color, and begin to branch within about an 
inch of the top of the ground, forming a dense bunch. The 
May-apple comes up early in the spring, and the stem dies 
down about June. The roots should not be dug up and 
dried, as drying destroys much of its medical efficacy. It 
can nearly always be found. 

MAGIC NERVE LINIMENT. 
III. 

Get a strong bottle, capable of holding eight ounces, into 
which put 

Spirits of hartsliorn 1^ oz. 

Sulphuric ether 1^ oz. 

Spirits turpentine ^ oz. 

Sweet oil f oz. 

Oil of cloves "I oz. 

Chloroform 1 oz. 

Shake well and your liniment is ready for use. The bottle 
should be kept well closed, with a ground glass stopper, if 
possible, as several of the ingredients of the mixture are 
highly volatile. It should be kept in a dark place, or else 
closely wrapped in thick paper or cloth, as light tends to 
destroy its power. 

Use. — This liniment, as its name implies, is applied for 
nervous aflections, and is very soothing in its effects. It 
allays the pain in cases of string-halt, cramps, contraction of 
the skin, sprains, and swelled legs and joints. It is used as 
a counter-irritant to rub over the region of the throat in 
colds, coughs, swelled throat, etc.; the lungs in bronchitis, 



566 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

pneumonia, and pleurisy ; the stomach and bowels in colic 
and enteritis; the back and loins in all affections of the kid- 
neys and urinary organs. It is also excellent to apply to the 
region of the brain in all cerebral disturbances. If applied 
early enough it will cure tumors and other swellings. 

This liniment will be found of exceeding value to the hu- 
man subject in various nervous affections, especially in head- 
ache and toothache. 

MERCURIAL SALVE. 
IV. 

Take of metallic mercury (quicksilver; a quantity equal 
in size to a pea; of iodine, the same amount ; of corrosive 
sublimate, one ounce, finely pulverized. Mix these with two 
table-spoonfuls of lard until thoroughly combined. 

Use. — This salve will cure thrush, scratches, and foot-evil, 
but will not cure the other diseases of the foot. It will cure 
nearly all cutaneous diseases, such as mange, surfeit, etc., 
and all eruptions. It is not so powerful as the corrosive 
liniment, and, therefore, better than this in cases requiring 
mild treatment. It should be well rubbed into the skin 
with the end of the finger, or a rough rag or brush. Care 
should be taken in using this salve to keep it from the finger 
nails, as it corrodes and sometimes destroys them entirely. 

SULPHUR OINTMENT. 
V. 

Take half an ounce of red precipitate, one ounce of sul- 
phur, and four ounces of lard ; mix well together and pre- 
serve for use. 

Use. — This ointment is used to kill vermin on the horse, 
and to anoint the skin in such diseases as surfeit, mange, 
and all dryness and eruptions of the skin. It is a disinfect- 
ant for these diseases, as well as for all diseases of the feet 
and legs, such as thrush, grease, scratches, and foot-evil. It 
is good for slight galls on the back and shoulders. It is, on 
the whole, an invaluable remedy, and should be kept in 
every stable. 



MEDICAL PEEPARATIONS. 567 



CAUSTIC SALVE AND WASH. 
VI. 

These are made of the common caustic potash of com- 
merce. The wash is simply a strong sohition of lye of pot- 
ash and water. 

Use. — For the cure of warts of diflerent kinds, the lye 
is to be applied in the morning, then washed off in the even- 
ing, and the application repeated. This is to be continued 
until the wart is driven awa3^ In the treatment of a blood 
wart, the corrosive liniment should follow the use of the pot- 
ash, to destroy the roots of the wart and heal the sore. If a 
seed wart, grease the place after using the potash, and let it 
go. Care must be taken, in using caustic potash, not to let 
it run on other parts of the skin than that under treatment, 
as it will invariably remove the hair and cause a sore. This 
may be prevented by spreading a coat of grease below the 
wart on the skin. 

The caustic salve is made by mixing finely-pulverized 
charcoal with the lye. This is used in the same manner as 
the wash, but it is to be preferred, because there is no danger 
of its running. 

PROF. DALE S PERSIAN HORSE AND CATTLE POWDERS. 

VII. 

A very excellent tonic and alterative, to be used according 
to directions given in different parts of this work. 

NITRIC ACID. 
VIII. 

Nitric acid is also used to destroy warts, but must be 
handled with extreme caution. A piece of leather or thick 
pasteboard, with a hole cut in it large enough to allow the 
top or crown of the wart to pass through, is first placed over 
the wart, and then a very little of the acid carefully applied 
with a very small brush or a little mop. The parts below 
the wart should be well greased with tallow to prevent the 
corrosive action of the acid which might trickle down. The 
application of the acid should be made every twelve hours, 



568 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

until the wart is destroyed. The use of the corrosive lini- 
ment should invariably follow the last application of the 
acid. 

Caution. — Nitric acid is a violent poison, and, if dropped 
upon the human skin, stains if it does not blister and pro- 
duce malignant sores. 

DISTEMPER MIXTURE. 
IX. 

Take one table-spoonful of gunpowder, one of hog's lard, 
one of soft soap, two of tar, one of gum myrrh ; mix well 
together, and the quantity will suffice for six doses for a 
grown horse or ten for a colt. Its daily use will keep the 
glands open and running during attacks of distemper. Di- 
rections for its use have been given in the section on distem- 
per. No danger is to be apprehended from using it freely. 

EYE WASH. 

x. 

Take three hen's eggs and break them into a quart of 
clear, cold rain-water. Stir until a thorough mixture is 
effected. Boil over a slow fire, stirring every few minutes. 
Add half an ounce of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol); con- 
tinue the boiling a short time, and the compound is ready 
for use. In this preparation a solid substance or curd is pre- 
cipitated or thrown down, and a liquid solution rests upon 
the top. . This liquid is the best wash for the sore eyes of 
either man or beast that was ever made. 

The curd applied to the inflamed eye at night will draw 
the fever and soreness nearly all out by morning. It may 
be applied to the eye of the horse by fixing a hood over the 
head, leaving a hole for the accommodation of the sound 
eye, but fitting tight over the sore, so as to confine the curd 
to it. About a table-spoonful of the curd should be con- 
fined in a thin piece of muslin, and laid upon the lids, wet 
and dripping from the water, and bound fast. After two or 
three days, the water should be strained from the curd and 
put into a bottle for future use. It is well to strain the 



MEDICAL PEEPARATIONS. 569 

water two or three times, so that it may be entirely clear 
and free of the egg ointment, and then it will keep perfectly 
good. The curd is of no future use. This eye-wash is in- 
valuable. No physician or druggist has ever discovered a 
medicine of the kind equal to it, and it is claimed by the 
author of this work as his exclusive invention. When ap- 
plied to the human eye it should be diluted. The curd may 
be used by the human subject with great efficacy. 

JIMSON-SEED. 
XI. 

The Datura Stramonium, familiarly kijown as the jimson- 
weed, or thorn-apple, is a well-known poisonous plant, grow- 
ing in rubbish in waste places. Its seed is used as a horse 
medicine; for, though poisonous to man, it is often beneficial 
to beasts. The only danger in giving it to the horse is, that 
it may injuriously affect his eyes; and yet horses have al- 
most lived upon it for weeks and months, and no harm has 
followed. Cattle, sheep, and goats feed upon it with impun- 
ity. For the horse it is a most powerful alterative. It is 
cathartic, diaphoretic, and diuretic. It acts upon the stom- 
ach and bowels, producing a healthy condition of those or- 
gans. It enters the blood rapidly, finds its way through the 
capillaries to the surface, producing energetic and healthy cu- 
taneous evacuations. N"othing that can be given the horse 
will so quickly regulate and allay urinary obstructions and 
inflammation. It is the great horse medicine. In cases of 
big head, hide-bound, stiff* complaint, mange, farcy, glanders, 
distemper, and chronic founder it is unsurpassed. In all cases 
of impure and disordered and impaired digestion it is the med- 
icine of all medicines. Nothing that we have ever used acts 
so promptly and beneficially. The big head can not be suc- 
cessfully cured without it; neither can bad cases of hide- 
bound and stifiT complaint. Perhaps there is nothing that 
will relieve rheumatism as speedily as this seed. It should 
be gathered during the months of October and November 
and laid up for use. 



570 AMEEICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

X)ose — From one to two ouuces, or table- spoonfuls, every 
second or third day, according to the severity of the disease, 
until four doses have been given ; after a lapse of a few days, 
repeat the operation. In extreme cases, a dose may be given 
every day. 

SULPHUR. 
XII. 

Sulphur, as a horse medicine, has peculiar and valuable 
properties. It is alterative, mildly cathartic, and disinfect- 
ant. It destroys putridity of the bowels sooner than any 
other medicine, and acts very finely upon the absorbents. 
It is somewhat sed^itive, and most certainly diuretic. But 
it is most valuable in its action upon the skin and hair. It 
opens the pores and stimulates the oily secretions to press to 
the surface. It may be given in any quantity without injury 
to the horse. The usual dose is two ounces every day, or 
four ounces every other day. We use sulphur in the form 
of flowers. 

ROSIN. 
XIII. 

Rosin, or resin, is a mild diuretic, and on that account is 
very valuable, as there are so many diuretics that are injuri- 
ous to the horse from their energy of operation. Two table- 
spoonfuls is a dose. We always give it finely pulverized, and 
in connection with sulphur. It acts upon the kidneys and 
bladder, and cleanses the urine more safely and efi'ectually 
than any other medicine we know of, but is very slow in 
its operation. 

SCAB FROM THE HORSE's LEG. 
XIV. 

The scab which grows upon the outside of both fore and 
hind legs of the horse has some very strange properties that 
have not heretofore been pointed out. It certainly has a 
very stupefying effect upon the horse when its odor is in- 
haled by him — when it is taken into his stomach or even 
put into his ears. The strange eifect continues for an hour 
or two. If the substance mentioned be taken into the stom- 



MEDICAL PEEPARATIONS. 571 

ach in quantity of a tea-spoonful it relaxes the entire system, 
in a few minutes, and is of great value in cases of lock-jaw. 
Its operation is perfectly astonishing. A tea-spoonful pul- 
verized is a dose, and is to be given in connection with a 
large dose of salts. This scab has a peculiarly strong and 
somewhat ofiensive smell; but the horse appears to be fond 
of it; and if the hands be rubbed with it, and held under 
his nose, he will stand perfectly still, in seeming quiet en- 
joyment. He often puts his head down and rubs his no.-e 
against the scab, which, no doubt, has some pleasant and ben- 
eficial effect upon him. Xature has probably provided this 
substance to meet some of his wants or to relieve some of 
his sufferings. TVe are of the opinion that its use as a med- 
icine in any quantity is decidedly injurious, and should be 
sparingly indulged. It has been used by some in breaking 
wild horses, in the first steps in catching and gentling. "We 
have tried it for this purpose, and would most earnestly dis- 
courage its use. 



GLOSSARY 

OF 

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TERMS 

USED IN THIS WOEK. 



Abate — To lessen, to diminish. 

Abdomen — The belly ; that part of the body which contains the stomach and in- 
testines. 

Abnormal — Unnatural, irregular. 

Abortion — A premature birth; miscarriage; an incomplete formation. 

Abrasion — A tearing or rubbing off, as of a piece of skin. 

Abscess — A cavity containing pus, or the pus in such cavity. 

Abscission — A cutting away or removal. 

Accretion — A growing or increase. 

AcENi — Small stones in the liver resembling berries of the same name. 

Acme — The height of a disease. 

Acrid — Pungent, irritating. 

Acute — Sharp, severe ; applied to diseases that soon come to an end as opposed 
to chronic diseases. 

Adhesion — A union of parts; sticking together. 

Adipose — Belonging to, or consisting of fat. 

Affection — Disease. 

Albumen — A substance found in animals and vegetables, of which the white of 
an egg is an example. 

Aliment — Any kind of food. 

Alimentary Canal — The whole passage through which the food passes from the 
mouth to the anus. 

Alkali — A substance which neutralizes acids, as soda, potash, ammonia, etc. 

Alterative — A medicine which gradually produces a change in the constitution. 

i\.NATOMY — The science which teaches the structure of animals and plants, as 
learned by dissection. 

Anomaly — Irregularity ; something out of the usual way. 

Antidote — A remedy to counteract poisons or any thing noxious. 

(673) 



574 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Anus — The funflament or lower extremity of the bowel. . 
Aperient — Opening, laxative. 

Aqueous — Watery; consisting of, or having the properties of water. 
Artery — The name of blood-vessels which carry blood from the heart. 
Articulate — To join together. Applied to the bones. 
Asthenopia — Weakness of vision. 
Astringent — Binding or contracting. 
Attenuate — To make thin. 

Auricle — The external part of the ear; also a part on each side of the heart, so 
called from resembling the ears of animals. 

Bisect — To divide into two equal parts. 

Bronchial — Belonging to the divisions of the windpipe. 

Biliary — Belonging to, or containing bile. 

Calcareous — Like lime. 

Callus — A hard deposit; excess of bony matter. 

Capillary — Hair-like. Applied to the extreme ramifications of the blood-vessels. 

Capsule — A membranous bag inclosing an organ. 

Caries — Ulceration of the substance of bones. 

Cartilage — Gristle. 

Catarrh — A cold, attended with running of the nose. 

Castrate — To emasculate ; to deprive of the testicles. 

Cathartic — Purgative. 

Caustic — Burning, as potash. 

Cauterize — To destroy animal tissues by heat, as with a hot iron. 

Cephalic — Pertaining to the head. 

Cervical — Belonging to the neck. 

Cerebral — Pertaining to the brain. 

Chirurgical — Pertaining to surgery. 

Chronic — Seated; of long continuance. 

Chyle — The milky liquid prepared from the food,'to be absorbed by the lacteal 

vessels, and supplied to the blood for nutriment. 
Chyme — The pulpy mass formed by digestion of the food in the stomach. 
Cicatrise — To heal a wound, or induce the formation of a scar. 
Clyster — A liquid substance injected into the lower intestine. 
Coagulate — To turn from a fluid to a thick state. 
Coffin-bone — The lower bone of the leg incased in its hoof. 
Coition — Copulation; sexual commerce. 
Colic — A painful disorder of the intestines. 
Collapse — A falling together. 
Colon — One of the large intestines. 
Congenital — Born with; belonging to from birth. 
Congestion — An accumulation of blood or other fluid in the vessels. 
Constrictor — \ binder or drawer together. Applied to the muscles. 
Contagious — Capable of being communicated by touch. 



GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TERMS. 575 

Contorted — Twisted. 

Contusion — A bruise; the act. of beating or bruising. 

Corrosive — Having the power of gradually eating or wearing away. 

Cranial — Pertaining to the skull. 

Crucial — Like a cross. 

Crural — Of, or belonging to the leg. 

CuL-DE-SAC — A passage closed at one end. 

Cutaneous — Pertaining to the skin. ' 

Cuticle — The outer or scarf skin. 

CrsT — A small bladder or bag. 

Decoction — A fluid impregnated with any substance by boiling. 

Deglutition — The act of swallowing. 

Degenerate — To grow worse or inferior. 

Decarbonize — To free from carbon. 

Deleterious — Destructive, injurious, poisonous. 

Depletion — Emptying; diminishing the quantity contained. 

Dermal — Belonging to the skin. 

Dessicate — To make dry. 

Detergent — Cleansing. 

Diabetes — An inordinate flow of urine. 

Diagnosis — The distinction of one disease from another. 

Diaphoretic — Increasing the flow of perspiration. 

Diaphragm — The midrifl", or membranous and muscular partition which divides 

the thorax, or chest, from the abdomen. 
Diarrhea — An excessive discharge from the bowels. 
Disinfect — To purify from infection. 
Diuretic — Increasing the flow of urine. 
Dorsal — Pertaining to the back. 
Drastic — Acting powerfully. 

Duct — A tube or vessel for conveying a fluid, especially a secretion from a gland. 
Duodenum — The first portion of the small intestine. 
Dysphagia — Difficulty of swallowing. 
Dyspncea — Difficulty of breathing. 

EccHYMOSis — An effusion of blood under the skin; a bruise. 

Ejection — A casting out. 

Elastic — Having the property of springing back to its original form after this 
has been altered. 

Emetic — Producing the act of vomiting. 

Emollient — Softening or relaxing. 

Enema — A medicine injected into the lower bowel. 

Enteric — Belonging to the bowels. 

Epiglottis — A tongue-shaped projection lying over the entrance of the wind- 
pipe, and preventing the entrance of food or drink. 

Eruption — A breaking forth; a rash on the skin. 



576 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Esophagus— The gullet or tube which conveys food to the stomach. 

Evacuate— To empty or free from. 

Excoriate — To strip off the skin. 

Excrement — Refuse matter. 

Excrescence — An unnatural or superfluous growth. 

Excretion — A separation of fluids from the body by means of glands. 

ExHALANT — Breathing out or evaporating. 

Exostosis — An unnatural growth of or projection from a bone. 

Exude — To discharge through pores. 

Facial — Pertaining to the face. 

FcECES — Excrement, or refuse matter. 

Farcy — A disease of the lymphatics of the skin of the horse. 

Feculent — Containing dregs or sediment. 

Femdr — The thigh bone. 

Fermentation — Commotion owing to decomposition of vegetable substances 

souring. 
Fetus, or Fcetus — The young unborn animal, in which all the parts of the body 

are formed. 
Fibrin — An organic substance found in the blood, and composing a great part 

of the tissues of the body. 
Fibula — The small or splinter bone of the hind leg above the hock. 
Fistula — A deep, narrow, callous ulcer. 
Fistulous — Like a pipe. 

Flatulency — A generation of gases in the stomach and intestines. 
Flexible — Capable of being bent. 

Flexor — A bender. Applied to the muscles which bend the limbs. 
Fumigate — To apply smoke or vapor. 
Fungous — Resembling mushrooms. 

Gangrene — Death of a limited portion of the body or of any of its tissues. 

Gas — A fluid in the form of air. 

Gastric — Pertaining to the stomach. 

Gelatine — Animal jelly. 

Genital — Relating to reproduction or generation. 

Gland — A structure for the purpose of secreting or separating some particular 

material. 
Glottis — The narrow opening at the top of the windpipe. 

Habitat — The natural abode or locality of an animal. 
HiEMAL — Relating to blood. 
H^matin — The coloring matter of blood. 
Hemorrhage — An escape of blood from the vessels. 

Haw An organ in the eye of the horse that throws the washer over the eye. 

Haunch — The hip ; the upper part of the thigh bone. 
Hepatic— Belonging to the liver. 



GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TERMS. 577 

Hepatized — Turned into a substance resembling liver. 

Hereditary— Acquired from ancestors; transmitted from parent to oflFspring. 

HcMERus — The upper bone of the fore-leg. 

Ileum — The lower portion of the small intestine. 
Incision — A cutting into; a cut. 

Infection — The communication of disease by means of the miasma or emana- 
tion from a diseased body. 
Ingested — Things taken in. Applied to food. 
Inject — To throw in. 
Induration — Hardening. 

Interstice — A small space between the particles of a body. 
Intestines — The alimentary canal from the stomach to its termination. 

Jejunum — A part of the small intestine. 

Lachrymal — Pertaining to tears. 

Lacteal — Conveying milk, or a fluid like milk. Applied to the vessels which 
take up the chyle from the alimentary canal and convey it to the thoracic 
duct. 

Laryngitis — Inflammation of the larynx. 

Larynx — The enlarged upper part of the windpipe extending into the throat. 

Laxative — Loosening; mildly purgative. 

Lesion — Any hurt or injury; disease of structure. 

Ligament — That which bends together; a fibrous structure connecting bones. 

Ligature — A band; the act of binding; a cord or string used for tying blood- 
vessels. 

Lobe — A part or division of an organ, as of the brain, lungs, or liver. 

Lymph — A transparent and nearly colorless fluid which is conveyed into the 
blood by the lymphatic vessels. 

Malady — Disease, distemper, ailment. 
Malar — Pertaining to the cheek bone. 
Mediastinum — The partition formed by the meeting of the pleura dividing the 

chest into two lateral parts. 
Membrane — An animal tissue expanded into a thin layer. 
Mesentery — The fold, or membrane, which attaches the intestines to the spine. 
Metastasis — A transference of diseases from one place to another. 
Molar — Grinding. Applied to the large double-teeth with which the food is 

ground. 
Morbid — Relating to disease ; diseased. 
Mucus — The slimy substance eff"used on the surface of the membranes covering 

the inner surface of the body. 
Muscle — An organ by which the active movements of the body are produced; 

the lean meat. 

37 



578 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Nasal — Belonging to the nose. 

Nausea — A disgust for food, with inclination to vomit. 

Navicular — A bone in the foot shaped like a boat. 

Nephritis — Pain or inflammation in the kidneys. 

Nerve — A bundle of white fibers, whose office it is to convey sensations to the 

brain. 
Normal — According to rule; regular. 
Nutrition — The process by which animals appropriate to their repair or growth 

materials taken from external substances. 

Obesity — Excessive fatness. 

Ocular — Relating to the eyes. 

Omentum — The caul ; a fold of the peritoneal membrane covering the intestines 

in front. 
Optic — Relating to the eye, to sight, or to the laws of vision. 
Organ — A natural instrument by which some process or function is carried on. 
Osseous — Formed of, or resembling bone. 
Ossify — To form bone; to become bone. 

Pabulum — Food, 

Pachydermata — Thick-skinned animals, as the horse. 

Palate — The roof of the mouth. 

Panacea — A medicine supposed to cure all diseases. 

Pancreas — A narrow, flat gland extending across the abdomen, known familiarly 

as the callet, or sweet bread. 
Paroxysm — A fit of any disease coming on after a period of intermission. 
Parturition — The act of bringing forth young. 
Patella — The knee-pan. 
Pathology — The branch of medical knowledge which treats of the nature and 

constitution of disease. 
Pectoral — Relating or belonging to the breast. 
Peptic — Promoting digestion. 

Pericardium — The serous membrane around the heart. 
Perichondrium — The membrane covering the cartilages. 
Pericranium — The membrane lining the bones of the skull. 
Periosteum — The fibrous membrane which invests a bone. 
Peritoneum — The serous membrane which lines the cavity of the abdomen. 
Permeate — To pass through without rupture or apparent displacement. 
Pharynx — The muscular tube at the back part of the mouth which leads to the 

gullet. 
Phlebotomy — The act or art of blood-letting. 
Plasma — The colorless part of the blood. 
Plethoric — Having a full habit of body. 
Pleura — The serous membrane which lines the interior of the chest and covers 

the lungs. 
Plexus — A net- work of vessels. 



GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TERMS. 579 

Process — A prominence, or projecting part. 

Prognosis — The art of judging of the course ana event of a disease by the 

symptoms. 
Prolapsus Uteri — A falling of the womb. 
Prolapsus Recti — A falling of the rectum. 
Pulmonary — Relating to the lungs. 
Pulsate — To beat, or throb. 
Purgative — Having the power of cleansing. 

Pus — A peculiar fluid yielded from the blood in conseqence of inflammation. 
Pylorus — The part of the stomach through which the food passes to the intestine. 

Quiescent — Peing at rest; having no sound. 

Rabies — The disease known as hydrophobia. 

Rachitis — Inflammation of the spine; rickets. 

Ramify — To make branches. 

Raphe — A term applied to parts that look as if sewed together. 

Rarefy — To make or become thin. 

Receptacle — Ihat which receives or contains. 

Rectum — The last part of the large intestine. 

Remittent — Ceasing for a time. 

Reproduction — The art or process of producing again. 

Respiration — Breathing. 

Retina — The part of the eye upon which the image is formed in the act of vision. 

Rickets— Diseased state of the bones. 

Sacral — Belonging to the os sacrum. 

Saline — Salty. 

Saliva — The spittle or secretion of the salivary glands. 

Sanguification — The making of blood ; the process by which blood is produced 

from chyle. 
Sanitary — Relating or conducing to the preservation of health. 
Sciatica — A painful rheumatic afi'ection of the hip. 

Sclerotic — Hard; a name given to the thick, white, outer coat of the eye. 
Secrete — To separate some peculiar substance from the blood. 
Sbnsorium — The seat of sensation ; the organ which receives the impressions. 
Septic — Promoting putrefaction. 

Serum — The yellowish fluid which is left after the coagulation of blood. 
Shank — The bone of the leg from the knee to the ankle. 
Slough — To fall oS"; to separate by disease. 
Spinal — Belonging to the spine, or back-bone. 

Splint — A hard excrescence on the shank-bone — one of the bones of the hind leg. 
Sporadic — Separate; scattered. 
Sternum — The breast-bone. 

Strangulated — Choked; having the circulation stopped in any part. 
Styptic — Astringents; having the property of restraining bleeding. 



580 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Sudorific — Causing sweat, or perspiration. 

Suppuration — The process of the formation of pus as a result of inflammation 
Synovia — A fluid resembling the white of an egg, secreted in the cavity of joints 
for the purpose of moistening them. 

Tegument — A cover or covering — usually the skin. 

Tendon — The dense, fibrous structure in which a muscle ends, and by which it 

is fastened to the bore. 
Tenuity — Thinness. 
Tergal — Belonging to the back. 

Testicle — The glands which contain the seminal fluid. 
Therapeutic — Healing; pertaining to the art of healing. 
Thorax — The chest, or part of the body between the neck and the abdomen. 
Tibia — The largest bone of the hind leg. 
Tonsil — An oblong gland situated on each side of the fauces, or posterior part 

of the mouth. 
Tortion — Twisting. 
Trachea — The windpipe. 
Tractile — Capable of being drawn out. 
Tuber — A rounded projection of a bone. 
Tumor — A permanent swelling or enlargement. 

Ulna — The upper bone of the fore-leg. 
Urinary — Pertaining to the urine. 

Vascular — Belonging to or consisting of vessels. 
Venesection — The operation of letting blood by opening a vein. 
Ventral — Pertaining to the belly. 
Venous — Pertaining to the veins. 

Vertebra — A divison or separate bone of the spinal column. 
Vesicle — A small blister; any small membranous cavity. 
Virulent — Very poisonous. 

Virus — Poison ; the essential matter of a disease that is capable of communica- 
tion. 
Viscera — The organs contained in the cavities of the body. 
Viscid — Gluey, glutinous, sticky. 
Vulnerary — Useful in healing wounds. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



A PAGES 

Albumen, effect on muscles 31 

do. color of 32 

Arteries 355 

do. anatomy of 44, 856 

.Esophagus 59 

Absorbents 63 

Anus 65 

do. soreness and itching of. 826 

do. treatment 827 

Amaurosis 178 

Apoplexy 247 

do. horse subject to 247 

do. symptoms of..... 248, 250, 251 

do. cause of 248 

do. blindness caused by 249 

do. treatment of 249 

Abuses of the horse, 479 ; overwork- 
ing, 481; beating, 482; cut- 
ting and slitting the ears of 484 
Age of the horse indicated by the 

teeth 470-475 

do. means of determining when 

more than nine years 476 

do. as indicated by the lips 478 

do. do. by the hair 478 

do. do. by the chin and 

eyes 479 

Acids 388 

Alkalies 388 

Arachnoid membrane 55 

B 

Bedding for horses 425 

Bronchitis 296 



PAGES 

Belladonna 390 

Black hellebore 392 

Bites of snakes 323 

Buffalo gnat 397 

do. terrors of 897 

do. protection against 898 

Borer worm 398 

do. terrors of 398, 399 

do. bunch caused by 398, 399 

do. treatment of 400 

Beach horses 17, 18 

Bowels, anatomy of 315 

do. inflammation of 317 

do. diagnosis of 317 

do. treatment of 319 

Bones, description of 25-28 

do. of the head 27 

do. of fore leg 26 

do. of hind leg 26,27 

Big head — (See Exostosis.) 

Bile, flow of 328 

Bloody urine, treatment of. 335 

Blood, diseases of 352 

do. elements of. 42 

Bleeding, defense of 366-7-8-9 

do. effects of in horse differ- 
ent from those in man 368 

do. Youatt on 369, 370 

do. rules concerning 370 

do. amount of 371 

do. proper place and man- 
ner of 371 

do. directions fcr 372 

Bladder, inflammation of 340 

(581) 



582 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



PAGES 

Bladder, stones in 337 

Breathing, difficulty of 290 

Bellows, or broken wind 291 

do. treatment of 292 

Brain, anatomy of 51, 52, 53 

do. comparative size of 52 

do. diseases of 246 

do. water on 246 

do. inflammation of 253 

Blindness, caused by apoplexy 249 

Blind teeth 265 

Blind staggers 118 

do. prevalence of 118 

do. ignorance regarding 

118, 119 

do. absurd theories re- 
garding 119 

do. real cause of.... 120, 121 
do. symptoms of.... 122, 123 
do. old modes of treat- 
ment 124 

do. proper treatment 

127-129 

Blue beef and sticky beef 32 

Bronchial tubes 57 

Bog and blood spavin, location of 193 

do. treatment 194 

Blanketing 428 

Breeding, common method execra- 
ble 436 

do. horse should have more 
exercise and be taxed 
less frequently... 436, 437 
do. how to secure improve- 

mentin 439 

Breaking, common method 496 

do. best time for 498 

do. best way of 499 

do. Rarey method of 506 

do. Rarey halter for 507 

do. Rarey knee-strap for 508 

do. use of drugs in 508 

do. Rarey leg-strap for 510 

Biting 553 

Balking and backing 555 



C PAGES 

Corns 109 

do. ignorance regarding 109 

do. treatment of 110 

do. cases of 110, 111 

Contractions of the hoof Ill 

do. indications of 111, 112 

do. treatment of. 112 

Calkins 441 

Clips 442 

Corrosive liniment 563 

do. caut'n regard'g 564 

Colt, the one-year-old 502 

do. should be trained for the serv- 
ice to be required of him. . 500 

do. time of weaning 448 

do. treatment after weaning 448 

do. diseases of 349 

do. treatment of diseases 350-352 

do. founder 343 

do. should be well housed in 

winter 449 

do. proper food of 450 

do. hereditary diseases of. 450 

Crossing 453 

Castrating, proper age for 445 

do. method of 456 

do. best time for 457 

do. practice of twitching 458 

Caecum 322, 64 

Cutis 86 

do. situation of, use, and color.... 36 

Cuticle, function of 36 

Cuticular lining of the stomach 61, 62 

Chewing the reins 556 

Circulation of blood 43, 44, 355 

Caustic salve and wash 567 

Coagulum 42 

Cerebrum 51 

Cerebellum 51 

Colon 64 

do. inflammation and rupture of 325 

do. treatment of 322, 326 

Capillaries 43 

Caul 65 

Cardiac orifice 60 



GENERAL INDEX. 



583 



PAGES 

Cataract 177 

Catarrh 137 

Cantharides 386 

Cardiac sac 61 

Caul 65 

Cellular tissue of legs 228, 224 

Centipede, sting of 395 

Chest, diseases of 295, 296 

Chloroform 320 

Cleaning and currying the horse, 

necessity of 424 

do. Youatt on 425 

do. should be done out of 

doors, if possible... 426 

Clyster, usefulness of 381 

do. administering 381 

Colds 277 

do. cause of 279,280,281 

do. prevention of 281 

Colic 310 

do. diagnosis of 312, 317 

Consumption 301 

Contraction of the hoof. Ill 

do. do. symptoms 

of... Ill, 112 
do. do. treatment 

of 112 

Copperas 387 

Corn as horse feed 412, 413 

do. bad effects from use of... 413, 414 

Corns 109 

do. ignorance regarding 109 

do. treatment of. 110 

do. casesof 110,111 

Corrosive sublimate 388 

Coughs, cause of 285, 286, 287 

do. treatment of 287, 288, 289 

Cracked heels 104, 219-223 

do. cause of 104, 105 

do. treatment of 105, 106, 107 

do. time to cure 107 

Cramps 205, 206 

Creosote 388 

Crib-sucking '^70 

Croton oil 389 



PAGES 

Curb 197 

D 

Deadly nightshade 390 

Decay of teeth 266 

Defects of the eye 558 

do. do. best modes to 

detect 558 

Defects of the feet 559 

Defects of the respiratory organs 560 

Defects of stomach and bowels 560 

Diabetes, its nature and treatment 334 

Diet 32 

Difficulty of breathing 290 

Dimness of vision 181 

Diseased eyes, and treatment of... 173 
Diseases of the liver and urinary 

organs. 328 

do. of young colts 349 

do. of the heart and blood 349 

do. of the teeth and mouth... 260 

do. of the throat 277 

do. of the chest and lungs... 295 

do. of the skin 216-242 

do. of the stomach and bovrels 307 

Disinfectants 429 

Distemper 158 

do. symptoms of 159,160 

do. contagiousness of 160 

do. treatment of... 160, 161, 162 

Distemper mixture 568 

Docking 488 

Drench, rule for preparation of..... 379 

do. compared with pills 379 

do. improper use of 378 

do. best method of using 379 

Duodenum 63 

Dura mater 55 

E 
Ears, injuries to 242 

do. do. results of..... 242-248 

do. sore 243,244 

do. iudication of mental state... 485 
Englishman, the, and the Yankee. 148 



584 



AMERICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



PAGES 

Enlarged glands 282 

Epilepsy 253 

Epidermis 35 

Epiglottis 57 

Excretion 58 

Exercise, necessity of 431 

do. cautions regarding 431 

do. Youatt on 433 

Exhortation to the owners of horses 

150, 151 
Exostosis, history and prevalence 

of 69 

do. ignorance regarding.... 70 

do. causes of. 70-75 

do. symptoms of 77 

do. treatment of. 78-81 

do. former modes of treat- 
ment of. 81-83 

Eyes, anatomy of 165-167 

do. weakness of 150, 151 

Eye-wash 568 

Eyelids, sore 174 

F 

Farcy 152 

do. Youatt's account of 153-157 

do. cause of 157 

do4 treatment of 158 

Fattening does not increase ani- 
mal's strength 30 

do. effects of, on skin and 

hair 31 

Feet, anatomy of 41 

do. defects of 559 

Fever, cause and prevention of. 360, 361 

do treatment of 363 

Fibrine 31 

Fistula, cause of 184 

do. treatment of 185-187 

do. remarkable cases of. 187-189 
do. former modes of treatment 

of 189, 190 

Fits — (See Epilepsy) 

Flatulent colic 323 

do. treatment of 324 



PAGES 

Flexor tendon 41 

Flooring of stables 421 

Fodder, best grasses for 408-410 

do. manner of securing 410 

Food, observations on 401-414 

Food should be apportioned ac- 
cording to work, season, 
and general condition. 402, 403 
do. objections to corn as.... 412, 413 

Food-balls, administration of 381 

do. composition of 382 

Foul sheath 341 

Founder, common theory regard- 
ing, erroneous 113 

Fracture of the skull 525 

do. of the nasal bones 526 

do. of the ribs 526 

do. of the limbs 527 

do. setting bones in case of. 531 
do. treatment of wound in 

case of. 532 

Frog, injuries to 112 

G 

Gadflies 396 

Ganglia 54 

Gastric fluid 62 

General stable management 415 

Gentling 496-501 

Glanders, cause of 130-140 

do. stages of. 132-186 

do. different from strangles. 137 
do. do. from catarrh... 137 

do. hereditary 144 

do. contagious 144 

do. cleanliness a prevention 

of 148 

Glanders in human beings 148 

do. antidote for 149 

do. ventilation a prevention 

of 141-150 

do. treatment of 149 

do. remarkable case of. 151, 152 

Glands, general remarks on 58 

do. enlargement of 282 



GENERAL INDEX 



585 



PAGES 

Glass eye 178 

Gleet— (See Nasal Gleet.) 

Gnats 396 

Grain, quantity to be fed to horses. 411 

do. comparative value of oats 

and corn 411 

Grasses, remarks on 405-406 

do. relative value of. 406-408 

Gravel, origin of. 337 

do. symptoms of 337 

do. treatment of 338 

Grease 158 

do. (See Cracked Heels.) 

Green feed for winter 414, 415 

Grub 313 

Gutta Serena 178 

H 

Haematurea 3tS5 

Hair, remarks on the.... 35, 39, 40, 478 

Haw 179 

do. inflammation of 180 

do. treatment of. 181 

Hay and fodder, grasses best for... 408 

Heart, location of. 47 

do. function of. 47 

do. diseases of. 363-355 

Heaves 291 

Hide-bound 233 

do. cause and treatment of. 234 

Hock-joint 26 

Hoofs 25 

do. color of, in health 107 

do. paring of 548 

Hoof-rot 107 

do. cause of. 107 

do. results of. 108 

do. symptoms of 108 

do. treatment of 108 

Hooks 179 

Hornets, stinging of. 396 

Horse, nativity of, preliminary re- 
marks on the 11-14 

do. diseases of the 14 

do. deterioration of the 16 

38 



PAGES 

Horse, longevity of the 19 

do. description of the proper, for 

breeding 441 

do. hints concerning the se- 
lection of the 443 

do. saddle 517 

do. carriage 518 

do. draught... 519 

do. roadster 521 

do. vices of the 551 

do. unsoundnesses of the 551 

Hydrophobia — (See Rabies.) 

Hypertrophy 354 

I 

In-and-in breeding 18, 19 

Infection, means of. 131 

Inflammation of bowels 55 

do. do. lungs 298 

do. do. blood 359 

do. do. brain 257-259 

do. do. bladder 340 

do. do. do. treatment 

of. 332 

do. do. feet 113 

do. do. do. cause and 

symptoms 
of... 113-115 
do. do. kidneys, cause of. 332 

do. do. do. sympt's 

of. 333 

do. do. do. treatm't 

of. 333 

Inflammation and rupture of colon. 325 
do. and bleeding of the 

rectum 326 

Injuries to the ears 242 

Insanity 250 

Intestines, anatomy of 62 

Involuntary motion, nerves of 53 

Itching of anus 326 

J 

Jaundice, symptoms of. 330 

do. treatment of 331 



586 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



PAGES 

Jimson seed, use of 79, 569 

Jejunum 64 

K 

Kicking 551 

do. how learned 552 

do. danger from 552 

do. in the saddle and in har- 
ness 552 

do. remedy for 552 

Kidneys 67 

do. function of 67 

do. inflammation of. 332 

L 

Lampas, cause and symptoms of... 274 
do. treatment of. 275 

Laryngitis 283 

do. to discover 284 

do. treatment of 284 

Larynx 56 

Light, importance of, in stable 417 

do. degree of. 418 

Lips 478 

Liver, situation of. 65 

do. function of 66,328 

do. liability of, to disease 66 

do. condition of, as shown in 

post-mortem examination. 329 

Locked-jaw — (See Tetanus.) 

Lungs 46 

do. anatomy of. 55 

do. diseases of. 259, 295 

M 

Madness — (See Rabies.) 

Magic nerve liniment, preparation 

of 565 

do. do. use of 565 

Malignant epidemic 289 

do. do. symptoms of.. 289 

do. do. case of. 290 

Mange, nature of. 229 

do. cause and symptoms of. 230, 231 
do. contagion from 230 



PAGES 

Mange, time required to cure 231 

do. treatment of 231, 232 

do. how to prevent infection 

from 233 

Mare, proper form of 444 

do. vitality a requisite in the... 444 
do. opposite qualities should be 

paired 444 

do. proper age for breeding 445 

do. management of, when with 

foal 445 

do. proper food and labor for, 

when suckling 447 

do. should not breed to a horse 

after having bred to a jack. 460 

Marks of age 468 

May-apple liniment, use of.... 41,42,564 
do. do. preparation of. 564 

May-ai)ple root 392 

Medical preparations used in this 

work 562-571 

Medicine, in the food 380 

do. modes of giving 378 

Membranes, distribution of. 34 

do. use of 35 

do. serous 35 

do. medullary 52 

do. mediastinum 85 

do. dura mater 55 

do. arachnoid 55 

do. pia mater 55 

do. pleura 55 

Mercurial salve, preparation of..... 566 

do. do. use of 566 

Mesenteric artery and veins 65 

Moon-eyes, symptoms, etc., of 75 

Mouth, diseases of the 260 

Mule, the, superiority of, for South- 
ern use 458 

do. health and capacity of, 
for service compared 
with the horse.... 459, 461 

do economy in feeding 459 

do. comparative certainty in 

breeding 460 



GENEEAL INDEX. 



587 



PAGES 

Mule, the, prejudice regarding 461 

do. breaking of. 523 

Muscles, anatomy of. 29 

do. sensibility and quality of 

the 30 

N 

Narrow heel — (See contraction of 
hoof.) 

Nasal gleet, symptoms of. 162 

do. treatment of 163 

Naturally weak eyes 169 

Nephritis 332 

Nerves of voluntary motion 53 

do. sympathetic 54 

Nervous system, diseases of 246 

Nicking 486 

Nitric acid 567 

do. caution regarding 568 

Nostrils, function of the 56 

Nux vomica 385 



Oil sacks of hock-joint 192 

do. rupture of 198 

Omentum 65 

Ophthalmia , 176, 177 

Overreaching and interfering 557 



Pacing mare 15-18 

Palsy, cause of. 256 

do. treatment of. 257 

Pancreas 66, 67 

Panniculous carnosus 37 

Pasturing, remarks on 404 

do. the best medicine 404 

Perspiration 38 

Phrenitis — (See Inflammation of 
the brain.) 

Pill 380 

Pleurisy 305 

Pneumonia 298 

Poisons, poisonous snakes, insects, 

etc 383 



PAGES 

Poisons, comparative eflPects of, on 

horse and man 383 

do. as medicines 383-391 

do. external 392 

do. animal 393-400 

Poison oak 392 

Pores 35, 48 

do. function of the 49 

Profuse stalling 334 

PiiUing at the halter and breaking 

away 656 

Pulmonary circulation 46 

Pulse 60 

do. importance of attention to 

the 374 

do. most convenient place to feel 

the 175 

do. natural standard for the 375 

do. variation in the 376 

do. indications of, concerning 

bleeding 376 

Pylorus, orifice and sac 61 

R 

Rabies 252 

Racing, remarks on 487 

Radius 26 

Rearing 554 

Rectum 65 

do. inflammation and bleeding 

of the.... 326 

do. treatment of the 326 

Resin 670 

Respiration 57 

Respiratory organs, defects of the. 560 

Rete mucosum 36 

Rheumatism, cause of. 206, 207 

do. remarkable cases of. 

207-210 

do. treatment of 211 

Ribs 28 

Roaring 293, 294 

Running away 555 

Running sumach 392 



588 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



S PAGES 

Saddle-galls 240 

do. treatment for 241 

Saddle-horse, what best suited for. 516 

Sand-crack 104 

Scab from the horse's leg 570 

Scarf-skin 35 

Scaring 554 

Scratches, symptoms and treatment 

of. 217 

Scrofula 358, 359 

Scurvy of the teeth 268 

Secretion defined 58 

Serum 42 

Shedding 260-263 

do. treatment during 264 

Shoeing, its origin 534 

do. a necessary evil 534 

do. Youatt's directions for. 

535, 547 
do. preparation of the foot for. 535 
do. preparing the hoof for.... 536 

do. putting on the shoe 539 

do. the hinder shoe 543 

do. different kinds of shoes... 543 

do. bar shoe 545 

do. changing the shoes, and 

time of wearing them... 549 

Sit-fasts .' 240 

Skin, function of 35 

do. diseases of 216-242 

do. of the heel 220 

do. oil glands of the 37, 40 

Small intestine 63 

Snake bites 394 

Sore eyelids 174 

Sore nose, cause of 239 

do. treatment of 240 

Spanish flies 386 

Spasms, frequency of 211 

do. of the nervjs, skin, and 

muscles 211 

do. treatment of. 212 

Spider bites 394 

Spinal column 53 

Spleen 67 



PAGE3 

Spleen, enlargement of the 331 

Spurious cataract 177 

Stable management 415, 416 

Stallion, desirable qualities of, for 

breeding 440 

Stinging scorpions 395 

Stiff complaint 234 

Stock farms, fault of 463 

do. trees in pastures of, 
and stable accom- 
modations on 465 

do. blackberry bushes in 

the pastures of. 465 

do. small fields are better 

than large ones.... 466 
do. colts of different ages 

should be kept in 

separate fields 466 

do. water in 466 

Stock-raising 435 

Stomach, anatomy of. 60, 61 

do. diseases of. 307 

do. size and capacity of. 307 

do. office of the 308 

do. defects of the 560 

Stone-bruise, evidence of. 112 

Stones in the bladder 337 

Strangles .♦. 137 

String-halt, or spring-halt 212 

do. seat of 212 

do. symptoms of. 213 

do. effects of as ascer- 

tained by dissection. 

213, 214 

Stump-sucking 271, 272 

do. case of. 272 

do. treatment for 273 

Sulphate of iron 387 

Sulphur 570 

Sulphur ointment, preparation of... 566 

do. do. use of 666 

Suppression of urine 339 

Surfeit 228 

do. cause and symptoms of. 228, 229 
do. treatment of. 229 



GENERAL INDEX. 



589 



PAGES 

Swelled ankles, symptoms of. 226, 227 

do. do. result of. 227 

do. do. treatment for 227 

Swelled legs 223 

do. do. symptoms of 224 

do. do. the cause and effect of 

other diseases 224 

do. do. primary cause of 225 

do. do. treatment of 225 

do. do. case of. 226 

Swelled throat 282 

Sympathetic system of ganglia 55 

T 

Tar 389 

Tartar emetic 389 

Teeth, diseases of the 260 

do. appearance of, at different 

ages 468-478 

do. appearance of, modified by 

art '. 478 

do. decay of. 266 

do. scurvy of 268-270 

Teething 260-263, 464 

Temperature of stables 418 

do. changes of. 427 

Tender feet— (See Hoof-rot) 107 

Tendons, function and anatomy 

of 33 

Tetanus 198 

do. cause of. 199, 200 

do. treatment of. 201 

do. remarkable case of. 203 

Thick blood, cause of 364 

Thick wind 291,293 

Thin blood 365 

Thorough-pin 197 

Throat , 58 

do. diseases of. 277 

do. swelled 282 

Thrush 218 

do. prevention of. 219 

do. treatment of. 219 

Thumps 385 

do. case of. 386 



PAGKS 

Thumps, treatment of 387 

Tibia 26 

Tissues, pulmonary 155 

Tobacco 388 

Toothache 366 

Trachea 157 

Turk 172 

Turpentine 389 

Twitching 457 

U 

Unsoundness 551, 558 

Urinary organs 66, 561 

Urine, bloody 335 

do. thick or albuminous 335 

do. limy 336 

do. suppression of 339 

V 

Veins 43, 44 

Venomous spiders, bites of. 394 

Ventilation of stables 418 

Vermin, cause and treatment of... 244 

Vices 551 

do. learned in colthood 500 

W 

Warbles 240 

Warts 236 

do. description of. 236 

do. treatment of. 237-239 

Wasps, stings of 396 

Water, office of, in nutrition 11 

do. on the brain 246 

Weak eyes not hereditary 171 

Wheezing 293 

Whitleather, inflammation of the. 

(See Fistula)... 184, 185 
do remarkable cases 

of. 187 

do. former modes of 

treatment 189 

White hellebore 391 

Wind-galla 194 



590 



AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



PAGES 

Wind-galls, cause and treatment 

of. 195, 196 

Windpipe 57 

Wind-sucking 271 



Yellows 330 

Young horses most liable to take 

diseases 171 



TABLE OF SYMPTOMS 



FACILITATE THE DETECTION OF DISEASE. 



The subjoined table presents a classified view of the prin- 
cipal diseases to which the horse is subject, together with 
brief summaries of the symptoms of those disorders the 
nature of which is not clearly expressed in the name. The 
symptoms are arranged in the order in which they usually 
manifest themselves in the patient, and thus indicate the 
, different stages of the disease. The numbers indicate the 
pages upon which the various diseases are fully discussed : 

I 

DISEASES OF THE BONES. 

(Page 69—99.) 

Big Head — Swelling of under jaw and nasal bone, and afterward of other 
bones of the head; skin and mnscles of the head become fixed, and will not 
move by pulling the lips; constant sleepiness while standing; gaunt appear- 
ance, drooping of head, placing hind and fore-feet near together, watery eyes, 
erect hair, stiff joints, dry skin; excrement hard and dry 69 

SwiNNEY, OR Inflammation of the Shoulder. — Inflammation, heat, lameness 

in the shoulder; step, short and limping; flesh, hard: skin, closely adherent to 

the bone ; shoulder becomes shrunken and shriveled ; patient reluctant to lie 

down; finally, shoulder-blade descends, humerus joint swells, and the disease 

j becomes incurable. Swinney is usually accompanied by diseased feet, espe- 

eially hoof-rot 84 

(591) 



592 AMEEICAN FAEMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Big Shoulder. — Aggravated Swinney. (See pieceding paragraph.) 81 

SWINNEY OF THE HiP 88 

Slipped or Broken Hip 88 

Bone Spavin. — Enlargement upon the inside of the hock, just below the 
joint 89 

Enlarged Hock 93 

Broken Hock 94 

Ring-bone. — Bony enlargement around the lower joint of the hock where the 
hoof and hide join. Ring-bone in its worst form becomes club-foot 94 

Stifle. — Swelling at the stifle-joint, producing lameness 95 

Splint. — Enlargement of the inner splint-bone, like Spavin 96 

Broken Knees 97 

Swat Back 98 

DISEASES OF THE FEET. 

(Page 100—117.) 

Ulceration of the Foot, or Navicular Joint Disease. — Occasional limping, 
as if pricked by a nail; ulceration of Navicular bone, or else slow decay; hoof 
shrinks; portions toward the back of the foot drawn together; bone enlarges, 
as in Spavin and Ring-bone; Navicular bone adheres to lower pastern and 
coffin-bone, the three finally uniting and swelling inordinately 100 

Cracked Hoop 104 

Hoof-rot. — Tenderness of foot; dry, chalky-looking substance formed in 
bottom of foot; frog, diminished in size; ankle-joint, swollen; step, short and 
limping 107 

Corns 109 

Contraction of Hoof, or Narrow Heel Ill 

Injuries of the Frog 112 

Founder. — Restlessness and frequent shiftings of the fore-feet; pulse, quick 



TABLE OF SYMPTOMS. 593 

and strong; nostrils red and florid; expression, anxious and wo-begone; grunt- 
ing and restlessness; frequent lying down and getting up; fretful change of 
position; rising upon the haunches; placing the nose upon the feet 113 

DISEASES OF THE GLANDS AND NASAL MEMBRANES. 

(Page 118—163.) 

Blind Staggers. — Real or apparent blindness, generally of one eye, somp- 
times of both; running constantly round and round in a circle, the circum- 
ference of which is about sixty feet; deafness; occasional fits of staggering, 
pitching, and reeling, lasting from twenty minutes to an hour, spasms increas- 
ing in frequency and violence; rearing, plunging, groaning, convulsions, and 
mad plunges of indescribable violence 118 

Glanders. — Running of the nostrils, usually beginning with the left; the 
secretion aqueous and somewhat sticky, increasing in quantity and stickiness 
with the progress of the disease, and growing yellowish white instead of trans- 
parent; long, stringy clots hanging and dripping from the nose; nasal mem- 
brane pallid or of a leaden hue; ulcers form in the nostrils; secretions become 
( darker, and are flecked with blood; loss of flesh and hair; cough, difficult 
I breathing, tenderness about the forehead; tumors, first about the head and 
I face, and then over the body generally 129 

Farcy. — Similar to last stages of glanders, above described. Ulcers on the 
skin, discharging a fluid, at first watery and yellow, afteward purulent, bloody, 
and very offensive. These ulcers first appear upon the legs, neck, and shoul- 
ders, and often extend till they cover the entire body 152 

Distemper. — Dry, hacking cough; running of the nose, the discharge being 
first watery, afterward thick, purulent, and whitish in color; swelling under 
the throat; abscess often formed in the throat; high fever; hard pulse; loss 
of appetite and flesh; occasional abscess on the belly, near the sheath 158 

Nasal Gleet 162 

DISEASES OF THE EYE. 
(Page 164—183.) 
Weak Eyes 1^^ 



Sore Eyelids. 
39 



174 



594 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Moon-eyes 175 

Cataract 177 

Glass Eyes 178 

Hooks 178 

DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 

(Page 184—215.) 

FiSTDiiA. — Swelling of the serraius major, forming an abscess ; blood, thick 
and black; pulse, very full; sometimes caries of cartilages and sinking of the 
tissues 184 

Poll Evil 190 

Boa AND Blood Spavin. — Puffy swelling under the skin, and cellular tissue 
of the hock-joint 192 

Wind-galls. — Puffy swelling below the knee and hock and on the ankle. 194 

Curb. — Enlargement on back of leg 197 

Thorouuh-pin. — A watery enlargement on the back of the hock-joint, 
inside the os calcis 197 

Tetanus, or Lock-jaw. — Rigidity of muscles; stiffness of joints; protrusion 
of muzzle ; immobility of ears ; dilatation of nostrils, with little or no play ; 
ey6 withdrawn deeply in socket; haggard, horror-struck expression of coun- 
tenance; tucking up of belly; straddling posture of legs; and jaws firmly 
closed , 198 

Cramps. — Twitching of muscles of the legs, etc 205 

Rheumatism. — Inflammation of tendons and joints, especially of the hips and 
shoulders 206 

Spasms — Of the muscles — Violent contraction of muscles, causing sudden 

jerks 211 

do. Of the nerves — Agitation, trembling, and a wild and frightened 
look 211 

Strino-halt, or Spring-halt.— Whenever the horse lifts his legs, it is caught 
up much higher than usual, with a sudden, spasmodic jerk 212 



TABLE OF SYMPTOMS. 695 

DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 

(Page 216—245.) 

Scratches. — Thick, dry, scabby covering of the skin, coming in little patches 
on the heel, which spread until they become one solid mass of scab and mat- 
ted hair; itching of the parts 216 

Thrdsh. — Discharge of very offensive matter from frog and heel 218 

Cracked Heel, or Grease. — Symptoms like those of Thrush, but confined 
to the heel 219 

Swelled Legs. — Inflammation of cellular tissue of legs, causing swelling; 
puflSng out of the skin; lameness; stiffness of the joints; after a time cracks 
appear, from which exudes a whitish-yellow, watery matter 223 

Swelled Ankles. — Swelling of ankle-joints 226 

Surfeit. — Pustules on the skin, from the top of which exudes a thin, whit- 
ish, oily matter, forming scabs on the shoulders, neck, sides, and back part of 
fore-leg 228 

Mange. — Falling off of the hair; skin dirty brown, loose, and flabby; scabby 
eruptions on skin ; peeling off of cuticle, leaving the parts beneath raw and 
bleeding; burning and itching 229 

Hidebound 233 

Stiff Complaint. — Skin dry and contracted; joints stiff; muscles and ten- 
dons of legs become stiff, and fairly seem to contract 234 

Warts. — Seed warts are small tumors on the eyelids, the nose, the sheath, 
and adjoining portions of the belly, having little hard points, or grains. Blood 
warts are spongy tumors, from which blood exudes on every slight irritation, 
usually on hock and knee-joints, and the pasterns. They have great tendency 
to spread; sometimes are very sore, raw, and bleeding 236 

SoRK Nose 239 

Saddle Galls. — Back of horse chafed and raw. Sometimes tumors form, 
which discharge matter 240 



596 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Sore Ears. — Scabby or mangy eruptions on the tips of the ears, which spread 
downward 243 



DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
(Page 246—259.) 
Water on the Brain 246 

Apoplexy. — Giddiness and wildness of motion, and a staggering gait; profuse 
sweating; trembling, especially of the knees ; a wild and wistful look; twitching 
of the skin and jerking of the ears 247 

Rabies (Hydrophobia, or Madness) 252 

Fits, or Epilepsy. — A wild, fierce look; rearing and pitching; nerT0u3 
twitching and convulsions.. 253 

Phrenitis, or Inflammation of thn Brain. — Patient drowsy, stupid; his 
eye closes; he sleeps while in the act of eating, and dozes until he falls; pulse, 
slow; breathing, laborious 253 

Palsy. — Hips and thighs partially or entirely paralyzed 256 

Insanity. — A stupid manner; wandering expression of countenance; uncon- 
trollable alarm at sudden noises, colors, etc 257 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 

(Page 260 276.) 

Teething, or Dentition. — Indicated by feverishness of the gums and 
mouth.. ; 262 

Shedding. — Attended by soreness and inflammation of the mouth, and loss of 
appetite 263 

Decay of Teeth. — Toothache, indicated by the sudden dropping of the corn 
from the horse's mouth. Stump-sucking, crib-biting, and wind-sucking may be 
referred to this cause 266 

Scurvy of the Teeth. — Front teeth covered with ridges of white scurf, which 
inflame the jaws 268 

. Stump-sucking, Crib-biting, and Wind-sucking 270 



TABLE OF SYMPTOMS. 597 

Lampas. — Swelling of muscles of front part of the mouth; the muscle next to 
the front teeth swells until it extends below them, and is very sore. Lampas 
usually accompanies teething 274 



DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 

(Page 277—294.) 
Colds 277 

Enlarqkd Glands 282 

Swelled Throat 282 

Laryngitis. — Violent coughing, attended by gurgling; breathing, short and 
quick; membrane of nose red; horse shrinks when the larynx is pressed upon; 
paroxysms of coughing become more frequent; head projected; neck stiffened; 
considerable swelling in throat, and difiBculty of swallowing; as inflammation 
increases, the cough becomes hoarse and feeble 283 

Cough 28-5 

Malignant Epidemic. — Inflammation of mucous membranes of respiratory 
organs; diarrhea; acute fever, followed by great prostration ; loss of appetite; 
Btaring coat ; wandering look ; staggering ; continual lying down and rising 
again; gazing alternately at each flank; twitching of the skin, and spasms of 
limbs 285 

Difficulty of Breathing 290 

Broken Wind, Bellows, or Heaves 291 

Thick Wind, Wheezing, etc 293 

Roaring 293 

DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 

(Page 295—306.) 

Bronchitis. — Swelled throat; increased rapidity of breathing; cough; dis- 
charge of a purulent mucous character, with clots of blood and plugs of matter 
from the nose; patient remains standing and motionless; breath, hot; pulse, 
full and rapid, beating 60 or 70 times a minute ; membrane of nose, deep red ; 
dry, rattling sound heard in throat and chest 296 



5&8 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Pnedmonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs — Begins with a chill, succeeded 
by a fever; this repeated several times; extremities, always cold; breathing, 
hurried and distressed ; pulse, quick ; mouth and breath, very hot ; painful 
cough; fore feet, wide apart; grinding of the teeth; weakness; staggering; 
struggling; groaning 298 

Consumption. — Pulse, feeble; nose, ears, legs, and skin cold and clammy; 
membranes of nose of an ashy color; breath, hot and very offensive; painful 
cough; discharge from nose of a purulent matter, mixed with blood 301 

Pleurisy. — Inspiration, short and painful; expiration, little or no faster than 
in health; respiration, 40 or 50 per minute; pulse, accelerated, strong, and 
wiry; legs, drawn together; head, protruded , 305 

DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 
(Page 307—327.) 
Sour Stomach 309 

Colic in the Stomach 310 

The Bot 312 

Inflammation of the Bowels (Enteritis.) — Spasms of suffering; profuse 
sweating, especially about the shoulders, sides, neck, and head; shaking and 
trembling; convulsive twitching of the muscles of the body; pawing and 
stretching; throwing the head around to the side; the horse lies down, endeav- 
oring to roll on to his back, and strikes his fore-legs against his chest, and sud- 
denly springs up again; throwing back his ears, he swiftly starts off, turns 
round two or three times, and falls to the ground; switches and jerks his tail; 
lips and ears, cold; pulse, from 65 to 80 315 

Flatulent Colic 323 

Inflammation and Rupture of the Colon. — Sides and flanks puffed out; 
high fever; intense suffering 325 

Inflammation and Bleeding of the Rectum 326 

Soreness and Itching of the Anus 326 



TABLE OF SYMPTOMS. 599 

DISEASES OF THE LIVER AND URINARY ORGANS. 

(Page 328—352.) 

Jaundice, or Yellows. — Yellowness of eyes, mouth, and skin; dung passes 
in small and dark-colored balls; urine, highly colored ; patient languid ; wanting 
in appetite; at times dull and stupid; lameness in right fore-leg 830 

Enlargement OF the Spleen 331 

Nephritis, or Inflammation of the Kidneys. — Feverishness ; patient fre- 
quently looks round at his flanks; stands with legs wide apart; is unwilling to 
lie down ; straddles as he walks ; expresses pain in turning ; shrinks when the 
loins are touched; urine voided in small quantities, and with great difficulty; 
its color dark and bloody; pulse, quick and hard at first; afterward slow, but 
etill hard 332 

Diabetes 334 

Bloody Urine 335 

Thick Urine 335 

White Urine 333 

Gravel, or Stone in the Bladder. — Symptoms similar to those of colic ; 
difficulty of urinating, accompanied by groans; urine dark and hot; patient 
perspires profusely, especially in the region of the flanks and loins 337 

Suppression of Urine 339 

Inflammation of the Bladder 340 

Foul Sheath 341 

Colt Founder 343 

Diseases of younq Colts 349 

DISEASES OF THE HEART AND BLOOD. 
(Page 353—382.) 
Diseases of the Heart 354 

Thumps. — Violent throbbing of the heart 355 



GOO AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 

Fever. — Patient is dull, unwilling to move; has a staring coat; cold legs anU 
feet. This is succeeded by warmth of body ; unequal distribution of warmth to 
the legs; one hot, and the other three cold; or one or more unnaturally warm, 
and the others unusually cold; pulse, quick, soft, often indistinct; breatbii^g, 
somewhat laborious; patient without appetite, and very costive 359 

Thick Blood 364 

Thin Blood 365 



THE END. 



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